\ 


^ 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/alternatesexorfeOOIelarich 


THE    ALTERNATE    SEX 


*  What  I  was  is  passed  by. 
What  I  am  away  doth  fly : 
What  I  shall  be  none  do  see, 
Yet  in  That  my  beauties  be,* 


THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 


OR 


THE   FEMALE   INTELLECT  IN  MAN, 
AND    THE  MASCULINE  IN  WOMAN 


CHARLES   GODFREY  LELAND 

F.R.L.S.,  A.M.  Harvard 
Member  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  etc. 

AUTHOR   OF 

•*KULOSKAP,    THE   MASTER,    AND    OTHER   ALGONQUIN    POEMS 

AND   LEGENDS,"    **  HAVE    YOU   A   STRONG   WILL?" 

"THE  BREITMANN   BALLADS,"  ETC. 


NKW    YORK 

FUNK  &  WAGNAI,I,S   COMPANY 
1904 


TO  THE  READER 

This  work  was  completed  only  a  few  months 
before  Mr.  Leland*s  death,  and  on  this  account 
it  is  presented  to  the  public  without  the  benefit 
of  the  author's  revision  and  correction. 

Mrs.  Joseph  Pennell,  the  niece  of  the  late 
Mr.  Leland,  has  kindly  seen  the  book  through 
the  press. 


Copyright,  1904 

BY 

PHII.IP    WEIylvBY 


PREFACE 

I  HAVE  endeavoured  in  this  book  to  set  forth  the 
following  views  : 

That  Men  and  Women  are,  in  strict  accordance 
with  the  opinion  of  the  most  recent  physiologists, 
radically  different  as  regards  both  body  and  mind, 
although  social  or  domestic  life  has  given  them 
much  in  common. 

That  in  proportion  to  the  female  organs  remain- 
ing in  man,  and  the  male  in  woman,  there  exists 
also  in  each  just  so  much  of  their  peculiar  mental 
characteristics. 

That  this  female  mind  in  man,  having  free  access 
to  the  images  stored  in  the  cells  of  memory,  calls 
them  forth  in  dreams  and  reveries,  the  same  being 
true  as  regards  the  masculine  mind  in  woman. 

That  this  casts  much  light  on  the  true  nature 
of  the  Imagjjiation^  and  all  creative  action  of  the 
mind,  involving  originality,  as  is  explained  in 
detail  in  the  text. 

That  what  has  of  late  years  occupied  much 
thought  as  the  Subhminal  Self,  the  Inner  Me,  the 
Hidden  Soul,  Unconscious  Cerebration,  and  the 
like,  may  all  be  reduced  to  or  fully  explained  by 
the  Alternate  Sex  in  us. 


vi  PREFACE 

That  there  is  no  line  of  demarcation  between 
the  organic  and  inorganic  world  ;  that,  as  shown 
by  Schron,  there  is  life  in  crystals,  and  no  step  in 
which  mentality,  though  in  lower  forms,  does  not 
manifest  itself. 

That  Forces  have  developed  themselves  from  a 
primary  force,  and  that  there  are  some  of  which 
we  are  as  yet  ignorant. 

That  the  law  of  Growth  is  that  of  accretion,  or 
of  attraction  and  repulsion,  beginning  with  any 
chance  group  of  molecules,  guided  by  certain  forces., 
as  seen  in  advanced  organisms. 

That  Sensivity  is  a  Force  developed  at  first  by 
polarization  of  atoms,  increased  by  attraction 
and  repulsion,  was  influenced  by  katabolism 
and  anabolism,  till  Sensation  (whose  true  being 
must  be  found  in  the  origin  of  motion),  step  by 
step,  advanced  to  Consciousness,  and  thence  to 
mentality. 

That  all  effort  to  rise  intellectually  above  ordi- 
nary experience,  or  to  what  is  generally  known  as 
the  Supernatural,  should  be  limited  to  Prayer  to 
God,  and  exertion  and  culture  of  our  Will. 

There  are  no  proofs  of  the  existence  of  God  save 
on  purely  material  grounds,  and  from  the  con- 
clusions of  Science,  which  all  point  to  it.  Yet 
this  proof  can  never  be  absolutely  perfected, 
because  as  Man  advances  in  it  he  is  ever  raising 
a  higher  ideal  of  Divinity  unto  himself. 

The  immortality  of  the  soul  depends  on  the  same 
conditions  as  the  proof  of  the  existence  of  God. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

INTRODUCTION               •                •                •                -  i 

I.    ABSOLUTE   DIFFERENCE   OF   SEX             -                 -  7 
II.    THE    ORIGIN    OF    LIFE,    OR    HOW    IT    IS    THAT 

*  things'   GROW  -                -                -                "  15 

III.  THE   ORIGIN   OF   SEX  -                 -                -                -  26 

IV.  THE    FEMALE   MIND    IN    MAN  :    ITS  INFLUENCE 

ON    THE    INNER    SELF — OCCULTISM     AND 
SPIRITUALISM         -  -  -  -         37 

V.    THE    MALE   INTELLECT    IN    WOMAN       -  -         46 

VI.  DREAMS,  AS  INFLUENCED  BY  THE  OPPOSITE 
SEX  IN  US,  AND  AS  INDICATING  SEPARATE 
MENTAL   ACTION  -  -  -  -         60 

VII.    MEMORY,  AND  ITS  RELATIONS   TO   THE   INNER 

SELF  -  -  -  -  -         64 

VIII.    HYPNOTISM      -  -  -  -  -         67 

IX.    SENSIVITY   AND   LOVE  -  -  '         7^ 

X.    OF  ENTERING    INTO  HARMONY  AND  SYMPATHY 

WITH   THE    INNER    MIND  -  -  -         90 

XI.    OF    MUTUAL   INFLUENCE  -  -  -       I07 

XII.    THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL    AND    THE 

MIND     WITHIN     IN     RELATION     TO      THE 

INNER   SEX  -  -  -  -      114 

XIII.   THE   EXISTENCE   OF   GOD  -  -  -      121 


[viil 


THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 


INTRODUCTION 

The  theory  on  which  this  work  is  based  is  that 
the  fundamental  condition  or  Intelligence  of  the 
two  sexes,  or  Man  and  Woman,  is  radically  dif- 
ferent, or  corresponding  to  their  physical  creation 
and  development.  It  is  generally  and  popularly 
held  that  such  difference  as  we  perceive  is  simply 
the  result  of  education,  association,  and  habit ; 
many  regarding  the  entire  past  as  a  period  during 
which  Women  have  been  oppressed  and  degraded 
by  Man,  forgetting  that  Man  himself  has  also  been 
subject  to  the  suffering  or  slavery  involved  in  the 
earlier  stages  of  Evolution.  And  as  the  sexes  are 
generally  so  much  alike  in  jperson  that  in  certain  t 
cases  women  have  passed  in  disguise  for  men,  so  | 
there  have  been  thousands  of  the  former  who  have  / 
developed  so  much  of  masculine  mentality  as  to 
render  the  idea  of  equality  or  actual  identity  in 
this  respect  plausible.  Having  many  intellectual 
faculties  in  common  with  man ;  and  as,  according 

I 


2  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

to  the  old  psychology,  all  formed  a 
'spirit,'  and  any  part  indicated  a  consistent  whole; 
therefore  it  seemed  that  the  respective  manner  of 
Thought  was  merely  the  result  of  hahit. 

As  there  are,  according  to  the  spiritual,  mystical, 
or  supernatural  theory  of  the  soul,  many  apparent 
reasons  for  believing  that  the  mental  nature  of 
the  two  sexes  is  identical,  there  naturally  came 
the  belief,  as  society  rose  from  barbarism  to  higher 
culture,  that  Woman  was  capable  of  more  in  life 
than  had  been  allowed  her.  This  was  quite  true, 
but  as  it  was  based  on  false  grounds,  and  carried 
too  far  in  a  false  direction,  it  led  to  error.  Thus 
of  late  in  literature,  female  vindicators  of  Women's 
Rights  generally  assume  that  theirs  is  in  reality 
'  the  superior  sex.'  This  expression  occurs  thrice 
in  the  last  work  of  the  kind  which  I  read,  while 
the  lady  writer  clearly  enough  holds  the  opinion 
that  Woman  is  destined  to  equal  or  actually 
supplant  Man  in  most  callings,  beginning  with 
all  which  require  superior  intellect. 

It  is  Plato,  I  believe,  who  tells  us  a  curious  old 
fable  that  Man  and  Woman  formed  at  first  a 
single,  epicene  being.  But  having  been  sepa- 
rated, the  two  halves  have  ever  since  been  seek- 
ing one  another.  When  they  meet  there  will  be 
two  souls  or  hearts  which  beat  as  one.  This  im- 
plies that,  while  the  two  have  much  in  common, 
there  exist  in  both  radically  different  elements  which 
require  union  to  develop  all  their  strength.  This 
recalls  the  other  fable  of  the  twigs,  which  when 


INTRODUCTION  3 

bound  together  gain  strength  as  a  faggot.     Union 
is  force. 

Modern  physiology  and  biology  have  done  much 
to  prove  that  Sensation,  Emotion,  Instinct,  and 
Intelligence  are  all  merely  degrees  of  the  same  Life 
which  manifest  themselves  so  imperceptibly  as 
they  develop  or  ascend,  that  it  is  impossible  to 
determine  where  Conscious  vitality  does  not  exist. 
And  wherever  it  exists,  it  corresponds  accurately 
to   certain   physical   conditions.     No   two   indi- 
viduals, even,  are  quite  alike  in  every  nerve  and 
muscle  or  tissue,  and  just  in  proportion  do  they 
differ  mentally.     As  all  men  are  unlike  in  face, 
and  tone  of  voice,  and  figure,  even  to  the  lines 
on  their  hands  and  feet,  so  are  their  characters 
unlike.     They  have  all,  in  some  respects,  different 
minds.     The  soul  or  intellect  is  not  absolutely  the 
same  in  any  two  living.     There  are  children  who 
are  born  drunkards  or  thieves,  while  others  detest 
drink,  or  manifest  innate  honesty.     The  numerous 
instances  of  '  heredity  '  which  I  have  collected 
(many  more  being  given  by  Galton)  are  amusing. 
Admitting  this,  which  few  physiologists  deny, 
the  reader  will  be  prepared  to  believe  that  if  for 
every  physique  there  is  a  corresponding  mind, 
that  of  Woman  must  differ  in  certain  respects 
from  that  of  Man.     To  a  certain  degree,  especi- 
ally  in   the   savage   state,    where   mere   bodily 
strength  gives  authority,  she  is  an  inferior.     Her 
functions  are  very  different  from  those  of  Man. 
Where  skill  in  hunting  and  bravery  in  war  or  per- 

1—2 


4  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

sonal  combat  form  the  ideals  of  society,  Man  is 
of  course  her  master.  And  this  is,  even  at  the 
present  day,  in  our  advanced  civiUzation,  more 
the  case  than  most  people  are  aware  of.  Women 
themselves,  as  their  own  novels  prove,  think  far 
more  of  '  a  gallant  officer '  than  of  all  the  philan- 
thropists in  existence.  It  is  not  many  years  since 
there  appeared  in  The  Telegraph  a  long  article,  in 
which  it  was  shown  that  of  the  eighteen  hundred 
pounds  devoted  by  Government  and  allotted  by 
the  Queen  to  pensions  for  literary  men  alone,  or 
their  families,  very  little  went  to  such  legitimate 
recipients,  most  of  it  being  given  by  the  Crown  to 
the  heirs  of  soldiers.  I  find  no  fault  with  this  ; 
I  merely  declare  that  Society  is  as  yet  in  a  condi- 
tion during  which  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that 
Woman's  claim  to  be  the  superior  sex,  or  even 
the  universal  equal  of  Man,  can  be  logically 
admitted.  It  is  as  it  is.  War  is  as  yet  a  great 
and  inevitable  condition  of  mankind ;  while 
Woman  worships  superior  strength  in  any  form 
(or  uniform),  she  must  remain  so  far  an  inferior. 
As  Society  becomes  more  advanced,  altruistic  or 
improved,  or  with  every  step  towards  higher  ideals. 
Woman  will  advance,  until,  all  mutual  duties  and 
relations  being  adjusted,  the  two  sexes  will  be  as 
counterparts  in  harmony — or  the  first  and  second 
volumes  of  a  single  work,  or  the  two  lobes  of  one 
brain. 

The  general  opinion  has  been  thus  far,  so  far  as 
any  idea  or  opinion  at  all  has  been  evolved  on  the 


INTRODUCTION  J 

subject,  that  Woman  is  growing  to  be  like  Man, 
until  eventually  the  only  real  difference  between 
the  two  will  be  that  of  Sex,  and  perhaps  of  phy- 
sique. I  say  '  perhaps,^  because  I  find  that  nearly 
all  the  '  women's  rights  women  '  cite  wistfully,  if 
not  hopefully,  instances  in  which  daring  sisters 
have,  undetected,  served  as  soldiers  or  sailors. 
There  are,  in  fact,  in  divers  places  in  the  Western 
United  States,  female  policemen,  but  as  there  were 
in  Rome  during  the  reign  of  Nero  female  gladia- 
tors who  fought  in  public,  we  may  regard  all  such 
as  exceptions  which  prove  a  rule.  And  to  slightly 
digress,  it  may  here  be  remarked  that  there  can 
be  no  question  whatever  that  with  proper  train- 
ing and  advanced  physical  culture  Women  may, 
perhaps  one  and  all,  become  equal  in  this  respect 
to  what  Man  now  is.  The  daily  physical  exercise 
of  a  Roman  Empress  was  very  nearly  equal  to 
that  of  a  modern  prize-fighter,  the  result  of  which 
was  sons  whose  bull-necks  were  nearly  as  large  in 
circumference  as  their  heads,  or  men  who  could 
bend  horseshoes  with  their  hands.  But  it  should 
not  be  forgotten  that  men  also  improved  in  pro- 
portion, and  kept  ahead  in  the  race.  These  proofs 
that  Woman  may  become  strong  enough  to  per- 
form much  which  Man  now  executes,  and  will 
therefore  become  his  equal  in  all  things,  recall  the 
story  of  a  youth  who  set  forth  in  theory  how  he 
intended  to  overcome,  vi  et  armis,  a  certain  enemy. 
'  But,'  remarked  his  hearer,  '  what  do  you  think 
the  other  man  will  be  doing  all  the  time  ?' 


6  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

Now  be  it  observed,  that  to  assume  the  abso- 
lute equahty,  Hkeness  or  identity  of  the  female 
mind  or  '  intelligence  '  with  that  of  the  male,  is 
not  only  contrary  to  all  experience,  but  it  also 
renders  impossible  the  clear  intelligence  and  de- 
velopment of  what  are  really  Woman's  peculiar 
faculties  or  capacities.  And  these,  as  I  hope  to 
show,  are  far  greater  than  any  writer  as  yet  known 
to  me  has  ever  dreamed  of,  although  so  mysteri- 
ous and  involving  such  an  entirely  new  field  of 
investigation  that  all  I  can  hope  for  is  to  act  as 
pioneer,  or  like  Carlyle's  backwoodsman,  whose 
mission  it  is  at  most  to  fell  the  forest,  leaving  it 
for  more  skilful  hands  to  fully  cultivate  the  soil. 

It  is  therefore  in  absolutely  denying  to  Woman 
equality  with  Man  as  the  World  or  Society  now 
exists,  and  by  casting  aside  all  present  arguments 
founded  on  old  metaphysical  theories,  that  I  find 
the  reason  for  believing  that  the  true  concord  and 
balance  of  interests  will  be  found.  The  first  step 
towards  such  conclusion  lies  in  certain  mental 
differences  which  we  will  now  briefly  consider. 
And  it  is  in  these  differences,  and  even  in  much 
which  our  present  ignorance  regards  as  indicating 
Inferiority,  that  the  glory  of  the  Future  consists, 
so  that  of  Woman  it  may  be  truly  said  : 

*  What  I  was  is  passed  by, 
What  I  am  away  doth  fly  ; 
What  I  shall  be  none  do  see, 
Yet  in  That  my  beauties  be.* 


CHAPTER  i 

ABSOLUTE  DIFFERENCE  OF  SEX 

*  Now  have  I  heard  of  a  Man,  'twas  in  Damascus,  there 
bee  manye  such  in  Persia  and  Turkey,  who  by  looking  at 
the  wrong  side  of  a  Tapestry  could  discerne  all  the  Beauty 
of  the  other,  and,  what  was  more,  that  in  whiche  it  could  be 
amended.' 

There  was  probably  no  time  during  the  world's 
history  when  Woman  enjoyed  such  power  or  had 
such  influence  in  Society,  literature,  and  politics, 
as  in  France  from  the  days  of  Louis  XIV.  down  to 
those  of  the  end  of  the  First  Empire.  The  men  of 
greatest  minds  seemed  to  have  lived  in  and  for 
Women,  not  merely  sensually ;  though  in  this 
respect  (as  such  works  as  the  Chevalier  de  Faublas' 
prove),  the  whole  world  of  Paris  appears  to  have 
gone  mad ;  but  also  intellectually.  Never,  at  any 
time,  in  any  land  was  the  sex  so  much  considered, 
so  deeply  studied,  and,  according  to  the  dim  lights 
of  the  age,  so  minutely  analyzed.  And  Woman 
did  all  in  her  power  to  aid  man  by  epistolary  cor- 
respondence, conversation,  and  political  intrigue, 
in  all  of  which  she  developed  genius  fully  equal  to 
his  own. 

[7l 


8  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

It  may  be  here  noted  as  germane  to  the  subject, 
that  this  was  during  the  Rococo  or  Baroque  age 
in  art,  when  the  vaguely-pretty  and  irregular,  and 
decoration  like  that  which  characterizes  modern 
feminine  dress  or  costume,  was  predominant,  in 
marked  contrast  to  the  determinate  or  masculine 
Gothic,  and  other  styles  which  had  preceded  it. 

There  was  a  vast  amount  of  writing  about 
Women  and  their  characteristics,  drawn  from 
great  experience  and  very  subtle  observation, 
which  may  be  summarized  as  follows  : 

That  Women  are,  in  fact,  radically  different 
from  Men,  however  much  they  have  in  common. 
They  are  like  the  individuals  who  inhabit  every 
one  his  own  house,  while  using  common  pastures 
for  their  cattle,  or  even  crops. 

That  the  female  sex  in  humanity  is  pre-emi- 
nently fickle,  changeable,  and  '  unreliable,'  or  as 
Francis  I.  wrote  it,  following  the  older  Latin 
saying  of  Varium  et  mutabile  semper  femina,  or 
La  donna  e  mobile  : 

*  Toujours  femme  varie, 
Bien  fol  est  qui  s'y  fie.' 

That  in  many  things — not  all — Woman  displays 
superior  quickness  of  perception.  This  is  strik- 
ingly shown  in  the  fact  that  she  can  at  a  glance 
take  in  and  accurately  describe  all  the  details  of 
another  woman's  dress. 

That  in  certain  matters  she  displays  superior 
tact.     This  has  gradually  been  exaggerated  into 


ABSOLUTE  DIFFERENCE  OF  SEX  9 

a  belief,  or  expression,  that  this  Tact  is  shown  in 
all  th^'ngs. 

That  being  more  unthinking  than  man,  or  less 
given  to  reflection,  and  also  by  temperament  more 
sensitive,  she  is  proportionally  more  irritated  by 
injuries  or  personal  slights. 

That  she  is  more  vindictive  or  revengeful  than 
man. 

That  she  never  feels  Remorse  in  its  true  sense. 
She  may  bitterly  regret  having  done  wrong  when 
punishment  overtakes  her,  but  seldom  or  never 
repents  the  original  impulse. 

That  she  is  more  deeply  interested  in  personal 
matters,  but  cares  less  for  subjects  of  general 
interest  than  Man. 

That  she  is  more  a  creature  of  Impulse — that  is, 
acting  more  promptly  on  first  impressions  in  all 
things,  good  or  bad. 

That  she  has  more  general  personal  curiosity 
and  inquisitiveness  than  Man,  and  is  therefore 
more  given  to  gossip.  Hence  a  greater  degree 
of  loquacity. 

That  she  has  a  far  deeper  and  stronger  love  for 
her  offspring  than  Man,  and  this  is  generally  more 
developed  in  her  as  regards  all  family  relations. 
For  in  proportion  as  she  is  a  bitter  enemy  so  is 
she  a  true  friend. 

That  Women  are  curiously  and  extremely  in- 
different to  and  unobservant  of  even  interesting 
subjects  which  appeal  to  every  man.  Thus  it  has 
been  accurately  observed  that  there  was  from 


lo  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

morning  to  night  always  a  crowd  of  men  and  boys 
before  a  certain  shop-window  in  which  there  was 
a  working  model  of  some  invention.  But  no 
woman  or  girl  ever  stopped  an  instant  to  look  at 
it.  Once,  as  Editor  of  a  journal,  I  was  much 
annoyed  by  people  knocking  at  my  door.  There- 
fore I  put  on  it  in  very  large  letters.  Come  in  with- 
out knocking.  Always  after  that,  whenever  I 
heard  a  knock,  I  said,  '  That  is  a  darkey  or  a 
lady.'  The  poor  coloured  folk  did  not  know  how 
to  read,  and  the  women  would  not.  But  I  never 
knew  one  who  had  not  a  very  prompt  excuse  or 
reply  or  '  reason  '  when  I  asked  her  why  she  had 
not  obeyed  the  request ! 

That  she  has,  on  the  whole,  or  perhaps  in  a 
majority  of  cases,  a  better  memory  than  Man  for 
personal  matters,  and  as  to  people  or  places.  As 
regards  any  thing  which  does  not  in  some  way 
interest  her,  or  '  come  home,'  she  often  has  no 
memory  at  all  unless  it  be  from  deliberate  will.  It 
is  well  known  that  as  a  man  and  his  wife  grow 
older,  the  latter  is  the  most  frequently  referred 
to  for  memories  of  the  Past.  All  people  can 
verify  this  from  any  old  couple. 

Women  have  to  a  remarkable  degree  the  art 
of  appearing  to  be  interested  in  conversation,  in 
subjects  which  do  not  interest  them  in  the  least. 
This  is  greatly  valued  as  an  art  by  a  certain  class 
of  men,  but  though  praised  by  Emerson,  almost 
as  a  virtue,  it  is  of  small  credit  to  a  truly  honest 
and  sincere  nature,  for  it  is  '  humbug.' 


ABSOLUTE  DIFFERENCE  OF  SEX  ii 

That  she  never  spontaneously  develops  the  In- 
ventive faculty,  though  she  sometimes  produces 
good  results  when  she  attempts  such  work.  The 
proprietor  of  two  large  manufactories  in  America 
told  me  that  while  every  man  and  boy  in  his  em- 
ployment had  once  at  least  suggested  an  improve- 
ment in  machinery  or  an  invention,  he  had  never 
known  a  female  employee  to  do  anything  of  the 
kind. 

Though  more  given  to  merriment  and  fun  than 
man,  there  has  never  yet  appeared  in  literature  a 
single  original  female  Humourist. 

A  witty,  flippant,  or  stinging  repartee,  especi- 
ally if  it  be  unanswerable,  passes  with  all  women, 
and  also  many  men,  as  fully  equivalent  to  the 
most  logical  and  reasonable  argument.  Hence 
the  proneness  of  the  female  sex  to  personal  reflec- 
tion, side  issues,  and  the  like.  In  all  cases  they 
prefer  gaining  the  Victory  to  establishing  a  Truth. 
And  many  men  are  like  unto  them. 

These  illustrations  could  be  greatly  extended. 
But  there  is  one  opinion  in  which  all  writers  agree 
— that  there  is  something  extremely  inscrutable]/ 
and  puzzling  in  the  general  nature  of  Woman,  orl 
a  Mystery  which  no  one  has  ever  as  yet  solved — 
a  mystery  on  which  she  herself,  however  intelli- 
gent, can  cast  no  light.  In  this,  the  greatly- 
abused  saying,  that  '  Women  are  all  alike,'  is 
true  enough. 

Now,  as  to  depict  an  object  truly  we  must  give 
the  shadows  as  well  as  the  lights,  so  do  I,  (assum- 


12  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

ing  theoretically  that  the  foregoing  characteristics 
are  all  facts,)  declare  that  these  facts  go  very  far 
to  establish  and  explain  the  theory  of  the  female 
mind  which  I  shall  eventually  set  forth.  That 
they  are  chiefly  shadows  is  of  no  account  what- 
ever, the  only  object  being  to  establish  that  there 
are  generally  recognised  or  credited  mental  differ- 
ences between  the  sexes.  For  they  are  very  far 
indeed  from  showing  Woman  as  she  is,  in  full,  or 
as  she  is  destined  to  be. 

The  next  step  will  be  to  investigate  the  physical 
origin  of  the  sexes,  so  as  to  cast  further  light  on  the 
subject  of  differences  and  of  development.  This 
is  absolutely  necessary,  since  it  is  in  the  very 
'  origin  of  origins '  or  the  sources  of  the  fountain 
of  life  that  we  must  seek  for  the  causes  of  varia- 
tion in  sex,  which  lead  eventually  to  marvellous 
results  and  conclusions.  Of  the  immensely  bene- 
ficial influence  which  the  imier  feraale  mind  exerts 
on  the  male,  and  how  it  co-operates  in  every  effort 
of  Genius,  I  will  speak  '  later  on.' 

*  These  be  the  shadows  which  set  forth  the  Light.' 

As  regards  the  question  of  the  relative  Superi- 
ority of  the  sexes,  common-sense  should  have 
taught  the  disputants  long  ago,  that  in  the  be- 
ginning of  society,  where  life  was  a  violent  physical 
struggle  under  brutal  conditions,  the  Male  must 
be,  as  the  creator  and  active  agent,  very  much 
the  superior.  In  the  earlier  developments  of  life, 
whether  in  plants  or  insects,  all  are  females  so 


ABSOLUTE  DIFFERENCE  OF  SEX  13 

long  as  there  is  anlimited  food  to  be  had  for  taking^ 
and  warmth.  But  as  soon  as  the  supply  begins 
to  diminish,  and  hard  work  is  required  to 
obtain  it,  with  endurance,  the  Male  is  developed. 
Among  savages,  or  wherever  the  real  gifts  of 
Women  which  will  at  a  future  time  render  her 
man's  equal  are  of  no  use,  she  must  still  be  abso- 
lutely inferior.  Thus  in  '  The  Evolution  of  Sex,' 
the  authors  declare  that  '  Few  maintain  that  the 
sexes  are  essentially  equal,  still  fewer  that  the 
females  excel ;  the  general  bias  of  authority  has 
been  in  favour  of  the  males.  From  the  earliest 
ages  philosophers  have  contended  that  Woman 
is  but  an  undeveloped  man.  Darwin's  theory  of 
sexual  selection  presupposes  a  superiority,  and  an 
entail  in  the  male  line ;  for  Spencer,  the  develop- 
ment of  woman  is  early  arrested  by  procreative 
functions.  In  short,  Darwin's  man  is,  as  it  were, 
an  evolved  woman,  and  Spencer's  an  arrested 
man.'  '  Tiedemann  and  others  regard  female  off- 
spring as  arrested  in  the  original  state.' 

All  of  this  means  that  woman  is  inferior  or  sub- 
ordinate to  Man,  while  all  are  savages,  but  has  no 
hint  of  the  great  truth  that  there  are  in  her  mental 
possibilities  which  will  in  due  time  appear  in 
higher  stages  of  culture,  as  they  have  indeed 
always  manifested  themselves  when  society  has 
improved.  But  while  destined  to  be  fully  his 
equal,  Woman  can  never  in  general  be  Man's 
Superior,  unless  the  fundamental  laws  of  our 
being  are  changed,  because,  as  I  shall  endeavour 


14  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

to  show  in  the  production  of  any  work  of  genius, 
or  even  of  any  elevated  train  of  Thought,  the  male 
mental  energy  and  vigorous  power  of  organiza- 
tion is  required,  though  it  in  turn  would  be  useless, 
were  it  not  for  female  co-operation. 

Women  who  complain  of  being  as  they  are, 
resemble  the  Ugly  Duckling  in  the  Fable  who 
would  have  liked  very  much  at  one  time  to  have 
been  a  Goose,  but  for  whom  a  far  more  brilliant 
future  was  reserved.  Many  women  say,  '  That  is 
all  very  fine,  but  we  want  to  be  equal  now,^  But 
for  the  very  great  majority  as  they  now  are,  and 
must  and  will  be  for  a  long  time  to  come,  this  is 
as  if  a  small  boy  ward  should  demand  of  his 
guardian  perfect  freedom  and  control  of  his  pro- 
perty. It  is  quite  true  that  at  some  future  time 
the  child  may  become  far  more  intelligent  and 
fitter  to  deal  with  an  estate  than  his  '  tutor.' 
Which  is  all  the  more  a  reason  why  his,  as  yet 
undeveloped,  genius  should  be  trained  and  dis- 
ciplined while  a  youth.  '  Understand  ye  this — 
or  what  ?' 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  ORIGIN   OF  LIFE,   OR   HOW  IT  IS  THAT 
'  THINGS  '   GROW 

*Aux  generations  spontandes  est-ce  une  idde  qui  preside 
au  phenom^ne?  Non,  le  phenom^ne  est  la  rdsultante  des 
causes  qui  le  ddterminent.  Un  germe  apparait,  se  d^veloppe, 
dclat  non  sur  un  plan  conQU  d'avance,  mais  sous  Taction  de 
causes  qui  toujours  le  tiennent  sous  leur  influence.  Un  plan 
precon9U,  immuable,  serait  ici  funeste.' — Eugene  Noel  : 
Memoires  d^un  Imbecile, 

A  STUDY  of  the  characteristics  or  faculties  of  the 
two  sexes  not  only  involves  some  knowledge  of 
Embryology  or  Ontogenia,  which  seeks  to  set 
forth  how  the  animal  or  human  being  originates, 
but  also  that  of  Biology  or  life  itself. 

In  early  times  living  beings  were  supposed  to  be 
the  result  of  spontaneous  generation,  or  of  mys- 
terious metamorphosis,  caused,  no  one  knew  how, 
by  the  action  of  certain  primaeval  types  and 
planetary  influences.  Thus  the  mud  of  the  Nile 
was  supposed  to  generate  strange  reptiles,  mice 
were  born  of  decay  and  dirt,  eels  were  originally 
horse-hairs ;  in  fact,  the  generatio  ex  putredine,  or 
birth  from  Corruption,  was  an  established  faith 
[15] 


i6  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

which  still  survives  in  all  countries  among  the 
ignorant.  Closer  observation  in  more  modern 
times  induced  the  conclusion  that  all  forms  of  life 
sprung  from  germs,  or  eggs,  in  varied  forms,  which 
often  underwent  several  changes,  until  Linnaeus 
finally  declared  that  '  nullce  species  novcB,  species 
tot  sunt  diverscBy  quot  diversas  formas  ah  initio 
creavit  infinitum  ens ' — '  There  are  no  new  species, 
there  are  as  many  different  kinds  as  the  infinite 
being  created  in  the  beginning.'  This  was  the 
doctrine  of  the  fixity  of  species,  subsequently 
endorsed  by  Cuvier. 

About  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  philo- 
sophers and  naturalists  such  as  De  Maillet,  Buffon, 
Diderot,  Goethe,  and  many  German  followers  of 
the  new  Natur-philosophie  began  to  admit  that 
there  was,  however,  such  a  thing  as  Variability 
of  Species,  which,  as  Professor  Giacomo  Cattaneo 
observes,*  had  been  vaguely  observed  or  sur- 
mised in  ancient  times  by  Anaximander,  Hera- 
clites,  Empedocles,  Aristotle,  and  Lucretius,  and 
in  later  times  by  Vanini.  This  latter,  indeed,  in 
his  work  De  admirandis  Naturce  Arcanis,  a.d. 
1613,  sets  forth  the  system  so  clearly  that  he  may 
almost  be  regarded  as  its  originator.  But  it  was 
Lamarck  (1801-1809)  who  deserves  the  credit  of 
having  scientifically  founded  the  doctrine  of  Vari- 
ability, and  Darwin,  (1859),  who  fully  analyzed 
the  question,  and  led  it  to  stupendous  deduction. 

*  *Embryologia  e  Morfologia  Generale.'     Hoepfli,  Milan, 
1895. 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  LIFE  17 

It  was,  however,  the  opinion  of  Richerand  (New 
Elements  of  Physiology,  1813)  that  '  the  moderns  ' 
have  rejected  too  arbitrarily  the  old  idea  of  spon- 
taneous generation.  '  Bees  may  not  be  generated 
from  an  ox,'  as  Virgil  teaches,  '  but  the  monads 
among  the  infusoria,  the  byssus  in  the  earlier 
algce,  seem  to  be  the  direct  product  of  heat,  mois- 
ture, and  electricity.'  This  opinion,  modestly 
advanced,  has  received  apparent  confirmation 
from  very  recent  researches  ;  that  is  to  say,  that 
life,  or  organic  forms,  have  an  origin  in  common 
with  Crystals,  as  is  set  forth  in  La  Vita  rei  Cris- 
talli  (La  Nuova  Parola,  Roma,  1902),  treating  of 
the  discoveries  of  Professor  Otto  SchrOn,  of  the 
University  of  Naples.  If  these  discoveries  be 
true,  we  may  conclude  that,  '  as  the  barriers 
which  separated  the  animal  kingdom  from  that 
of  the  vegetable  were  swept  away,  so  have  we 
now  destroyed  those  which  separated  the  organic 
from  the  inorganic  world.'  '  The  force  which 
rules  matter,  and  exists  separately  from  it,  is 
perhaps  a  kind  of  ether  ;  its  existence  is  not 
proved.  This  means  a  kind  of  ether  which  is 
constitutionally  different  irom,  and  more  subtle 
than,  the  ether  which  causes  luminous  and  electric 
vibrations.' 

Until  very  recently,  or  even  yet,  there  were,  or 
are,  many  scientific  men  who  regard  the  problem 
of  the  origin  of  life  as  insoluble,  because  the  ex- 
tremes of  heat  and  cold  through  which  the  world 
has  passed  would  have  killed  any  organism.  They 

2 


i8  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

did  not,  or  do  not,  take  into  consideration  the  fact 
that  the  same  elements  and  the  same  forces  which 
created  all  things  existed  through  all,  ever  ready 
to  act  in  new  production  according  to  circum- 
stance. In  fact,  the  latest  and  ablest  work  on 
Embryology  which  has  appeared  in  Italy,  that  of 
Cattaneo,  1895,  contains  the  following  passage  : 

*  However,  the  question  of  spontaneous  gene- 
ration, if  not  as  yet  solved  in  the  field  of  experi- 
ment, constitutes  a  problem  which  is  anything 
but  absurd  in  that  of  philosophy.  One  of  the 
two  '  (must  be  true) — '  either  life  has  always 
existed  on  our  globe,  or  began  to  exist.  The  first 
hypothesis  cannot  be  sustained,  because  the 
ancient  conditions  of  the  earth,  owing  to  excess 
of  elevated  temperatures '  (extremes  of  heat 
or  cold),  'could  not  have  been  adapted  to  the 
production  and  preservation  of  organic  combina- 
tions.' 

In  fact,  there  is  not  a  grain  of  this  world's  sub- 
stance which  has  not  passed  through  the  utmost 
extremes  of  heat  and  cold,  and  probably  through 
innumerable  forms  ;  but  during  it  all  the  Laws, 
whose  aggregate  is  God,  the  tremendous  Infinite, 
were  in  and  through  it  all  '  working  and  weaving 
in  endless  motion.' 

Professor  Cattaneo  and  his  kind  forget  that, 
though  organisms  or  life  might  be  frozen  or  baked 
out  of  the  whole  world,  the  Laws  or  Forces  or 
Matter  out  of  which  all  things  can  be  created  were 
always   there — only  waiting   their   opportunity. 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  LIFE  19 

For  no  degree  of  heat  or  cold  can  deprive  the 
primitive  atoms  of  their  nature,  nor  extinguish 
Laws  ;  which,  if  borne  in  mind,  will  cast  light  on 
many  things  which  I  shall  discuss  ere  this  book 
comes  to  Finis. 

And  it  is  also  to  be  observed  that  the  great 
primary  laws  of  stupendous  power  which  defy 
the  extremes  of  heat  and  cold  (which  are  only 
secondary  results)  have  the  power  of  producing 
other  laws,  such  as  that  of  Sensivity,  which  has 
an  active  influence  in  Life  and  its  development 
into  Mind.  There  is  much  as  yet  undetermined  in 
all  this,  but  the  theory  agrees  with  all  known  truth. 

It  was  long  held,  even  from  the  beginning,  that 
the  first  woman,  or  Eve,  contained  within  herself, 
though  undeveloped,  infinite  millions  of  germs  of 
men,  or,  in  fact,  the  whole  human  race  to  be  in 
future,  and  this  potentiality  of  descendants  with- 
out number  was  attributed  not  only  to  all  women, 
but  to  every  organism,  however  small,  as,  for 
instance,  every  seed.  As  new  discoveries  ren- 
dered this  opinion  of  no  value,  it  became  apparent 
that  there  might  be,  however,  a  transmission  of 
certain  vital  or  other  energies,  which  are,  so  to 
speak,  self-renewing  under  the  action  and  influ- 
ence of  certain  laws.  This  I  more  fully  express 
in  the  following  Theory  : 

When  certain  molecules  or  aggregates  of  atoms 
meet  under  certain  conditions  of  heat  or  cold, 
light  or  darkness,  ethereal  vibratory  influence, 
electricity,  or  other  causes  or  forces,  they  form 

2—2 


20  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

an  Unity  which  henceforth  remains,  per  se,  always 
attracting  or  repelling  certain  other  combinations 
of  matter  or  certain  forces,  as  is  illustrated  in  all 
chemical  action.  Thus  it  forms  within  itself  its 
own  laws  of  development,  of  accretion,  vor  rejec- 
tion, with  those  of  generation  or  continuance, 
deriving  from  different  media  the  peculiar  sub- 
stances needed  for  its  existence  and  action.  Thus, 
under  favourable  conditions,  the  chance  union  of 
certain  assemblages  of  molecules  or  groups  of 
atoms  may  originate  any  animal,  plant  or  cr^^stal, 
wherever  laws  or  forces  and  elements — that  is  to 
say,  matter — exist. 

Thus,  instead  of  embryo  animals  in  infinite 
number,  there  exists  in  the  mother  a  force,  or 
^-ggregate  of  forces,  which  attracts  or  repels  other 
forces  which  create  germs  of  life.  This  force  is 
itself  sustained  and  transmitted  by  harmonious 
action  with  other  energies. 

Under  certain  conditions,  certain  organisms 
grow  in  size  or  diminish,  change  colour  or  quality, 
according  to  the  supply  of  what  may  be  called 
their  food,  while  they  still  remain  true  to  their 
original  type.  This  constitutes  variability  of 
species. 

The  primary  laws  of  attraction  and  repulsion, 
as  shown  in  electricity  and  chemical  affinities, 
are  all-powerful  and  all-pervading.  '  Life  '  in  all 
its  phases  is  one  form  of  their  action.  It  is  not  a 
condition  or  existence  by  itself,  but  the  result  of  a 
combination  of  matter  and  forces.' 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  LIFE  21 

The  long-prevalent  belief  that  the  Creation  of 
all  things  began  on  a  Monday  morning,  May  i, 
six  thousand  and  odd  years  ago*  has  long  im- 
peded the  progress  of  true  science  among  the 
ultra-conservative  in  faith.  Whereas  Matter  and 
the  Forces  which  control  it  have  existed  and  been 
in  action  for  a  foregone  Eternity,  during  which 
time  they  have  had  opportunity  enough  to  bind 
and  loose,  create  and  re-create,  themselves  to  any 
extent. 

If  the  Law  of  Accretion,  or  of  growth  by  attrac- 
tion, and  rejection,  according  to  laws  like  those  of 
Electricity,  be  accepted,  we  may  also  accept  as  a 
conclusion  that  miUions  of  experiments  being 
made,  there  is  no  organization  in  Nature  so  in- 
genious or  complex  but  what  it  might  be  formed 
and  grow.  The  same  laws  which  developed  the 
simplest  crystals  when  repeated  on  themselves 
in  new  combination,  suffice  to  create  all  the 
amazingly  complex,  minute,  and  hidden  pheno- 
mena of  germination,  or  of  every  change  in 
matter. 

There  is  no  evidence  of  teleology  or  of  mental 
intention  towards  an  end  evident  in  Creation,  and 
no  proof  of  the  contrary.  For  while  the  evolu- 
tionist establishes  that  there  is,  on  the  contrary, 
often  an  end  or  falling  backward,  it  always  comes 
out  in  the  end  that  the  relapse  was  a  part  of  a 
great  advance. 

*  I  forget  Bishop  Burnet's  exact  date,  though  I  have  within 
a  few  days  seen  his  valuable  work  for  sale  for  one  penny. 


22  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

Progress  and  Self-correction  are  the  necessary 
results  of  all  Action. 

As  from  the  ten  numerals  infinite  combinations 
and  mathematical  problems  may  be  evolved,  all 
following  a  simple  Law,  or  as  from  the  alphabet 
we  may  express  a  literature,  Thought  being  given 
to  inspire  it,  so  from  matter  inspired  by  Force, 
which  develops  itself  into  other  forces,  a  world 
results.  And  if  we  knew  all,  we  should  probably 
be  more  amazed  at  its  simplicity  than  its  com- 
plexity. 

If  it  be  asked,  why,  if  this  Theory  be  true,  new 
creations  of  organisms  are  not  continually  ap- 
pearing ?  it  may  be  replied  :  '  Because  new  crea- 
tions are  by  no  means  so  promptly  and  swiftly 
produced  as  many  may  imagine.'  Nature  has 
made  the  Cell  the  nucleus  or  beginning  of  organ- 
isms, although,  as  Cattaneo  declares,*  '  the  cell  is 
really  not  the  primitive  organism,  for  we  must 
admit  that  there  was  before  it  a  long  series  of  less 
complex  bodies.  This  development  required  so 
much  time  that  it  may  have  taken  thousands  of 
years  to  change  a  hydrate  of  carbon  to  proto- 
plasm.' And  yet,  again,  the  cell,  once  regarded 
as  the  simplest  of  bodies,  is  now  found  to  consist 
of  different  parts,  such  as  the  nucleus  membrane 
and  protoplasma  nucleole,  and  to  assume  a  great 
variety  of  forms.  The  development  of  the  cell — 
that  is  to  say,  of  any  organism — must  have  also 
*  '  Protoplasma  e  cellula '  in  *  Embryologia  Generale.' 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  LIFE  23 

required  additional  ages  or  thousands  of  years — 
i.e.,  added  to  those  of  the  earher  chemical  crea- 
tion. 

Add  to  this  that  certain  conditions  of  the  atmo- 
sphere and  moisture,  which  were  favourable  to 
development  of  '  organisms,'  such  as  excess  of 
carbon,  now  exist  no  longer. 

Now  to  recapitulate,  it  is  to  be  firstly  observed 
that  there  is  no  definite  point  or  stage  between 
inorganic  and  organic  existence  at  which  that 
which  we  call  life  begins.  The  most  solid  stone 
or  metal  consists  of  molecules  in  motion,  and 
wherever  action  or  activity  is  found  there  is 
Vitahty.  All  VitaHty,  Sensivity,  or  Action  falls 
into  the  Law  of  the  positive  and  negative,  of  the 
active  and  passive  ;  hence,  in  time,  that  of  the 
male  and  female,  or  anabolism  and  katabolism. 
And  every  stage  as  it  is  reached  creates  another, 
yet  no  one  can  say  Where  one  leaves  off  and  the 
other  begins. 

Now,  in  the  last  generation  Matter  was  regarded 
as  the  absolutely  Lifeless  until  '  informed  '  with 
'  spirit ';  '  but  we  have  changed  all  that.'  As 
the  French  fabricator  of  liquids  said  to  his  heir  : 
'  My  son,  wine  can  be  made  from  anything,  even 
grapes,'  so  we  may  declare  that  Life  can  be  made 
even  from  matter  and  Force,  and  properly  from 
nothing  else. 

Now,  as  certain  matter  or  molecular  grouping 
attracts  certain  forces,  the  result  being  charac- 
teristic creations,   even  so  through  all  organic 


24  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

nature  there  is  a  marked  difference  shown  be- 
tween the  male  and  female  factors.  For  be  it  in 
plants,  insects,  fishes,  or  vertebrates,  they  are  of 
absolute  unlikeness  in  their  special  kinds  of  duties 
and  intelligence.  As  it  has  been  declared  ('  Evo- 
lution of  Sex  ')  '  that  Men  should  have  greater 
cerebral  variability,  and  therefore  more  origi- 
nality, while  Women  have  greater  stability,  and 
therefore  more  "  common-sense,"  are  facts  both 
consistent  with  the  general  theory  of  sex  and 
verifiable  in  common  experience.' 

In  the  Origin  of  Life,  Man  and  Woman  are 
entirely  different,  and  it  is  only  in  a  state  of  quite 
conventional  and  superficial  society  that  Woman 
can  assume  likeness  to  him.  And  it  will  be  found 
that,  in  accordance  with  the  Law  of  Evolution, 
she  must  recognise  and  adhere  to  her  true  and 
most  deeply  innate  Feminine  character  to  become 
Man's  true  equal  at  last. 

Therefore,  I  repeat,  as  a  necessary  sequence  to 
the  Laws  of  Life  and  of  Sex,  that  Nature  has  to 
every  organism  allotted  its  peculiar  gift  of  intel- 
ligence : 

*  Suum  cuique  propria  dat  Natura  munus.' 

This  gift  is  exactly  varied  to  every  individual 
according  to  his  or  her  physical  or  bodily  condi- 
tions, no  matter  on  how  small  a  scale  they  may 
be.  Therefore,  just  in  exact  proportion  to  the 
Feminine  remains  in  Man's  structure  is  there  left 
in  him  a  female  Mentalitv,  while  the  converse  is 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  LIFE  25 

true  for  Woman.  And  this  is  at  the  bottom  of 
more  in  our  habits  of  thought  than  any  metaphy- 
sician ever  dreamed,  and  it  is  destined,  when  it 
shall  be  fully  understood,  to  work  wonders  in  the 
Future. 

The  idea  of  growth  as  expressed  in  this  chapter 
is  curiously  set  forth  in  brief  in  a  passage  of  a 
little-known  work,  La  Selva  di  Varia  Lettione,  by 
M.  Manibrino  Rosas  da  Fabrians,  Venice,  1611  : 
'  It  was  the  opinion  of  Heraclitus,  an  ancient 
philosopher,  and  of  many  more  after  him,  that  all 
bodies  were  made  by  the  concord  and  discord  of 
elements,  and  that  from  their  peace  or  enmity 
came  the  generation  and  decay  of  all  things,' 
which  only  requires  to  be  enlarged  and  explained 
according  to  the  light  of  modern  science  to  be 
generally  accepted.  And  let  any  philosopher  of 
our  time  make  the  clearest  and  fullest  explana- 
tion which  he  can  of  anything,  from  God  down- 
wards, what  he  says  will  seem  as  incomplete  and 
babbling  to  the  thinker  of  a  thousand  years 
hence. 

It  will  occur  to  all  who  are  prompt  to  form 
fairy-tales  in  science  that  the  theory  of  growth 
by  accretion  and  limitation  according  to  the 
mutual  action  of  forces  or  matter,  suggests  that 
by  synthetical  experiment  the  chemist  can  hardly 
fail  to  create  new  existences,  organic  or  otherwise. 
This  is  a  curious  speculation,  but  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted that  it  is  not  more  unhkely  than  many 
things  which  Science  has  of  late  actually  achieved. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE   ORIGIN   OF   SEX 

Some  slight  knowledge  of  the  physiological  origin 
of  sex  is  absolutely  necessary  in  order  to  render 
intelligible  or  establish  what  I  propose  to  advance 
in  these  pages. 

It  is  probable  that  no  physical  problem  ever 
attracted,  from  the  very  beginning  of  Medicine  or 
research  into  nature,  so  much  attention  as  the 
origin  of  Hfe  and  its  manifestation  in  sex.  For 
every  physician  was  interested  in  its  solution, 
and  every  anatomist  attempted  research,  if  not 
always  on  the  human  body,  at  least  on  that  of 
animals,  in  which  latter  chickens  and  their  eggs, 
and  then  frogs,  had  conspicuous  place.  And  it 
is  very  remarkable  that  so  much  labour  for  a  very 
long  time  brought  forth  so  little  result,  or  so  many 
absurd  theories,  beginning  with  that  of  Pytha- 
goras, who  had  doubtless  many  predecessors  in 
the  East.  F.  Capuron,  the  author  of  a  clever,  and 
for  its  time  complete,  work  on  Obstetrics,*  re- 

*  Much  improved   in   the   Italian  version — Corso  teorico 
practico  delta  Ostetrica  di  F.  Capuron^  1838.     It  is  curious 

L26] 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  SEX  27 

marks  that  Hippocrates,  Empedocles,  Galen,  and 
Lucretius  all  believed  that  the  origin  of  the  human 
foetus  was  simply  the  coagulation  of  two  semina 
or  generative  fluids,  contributed  jointly  by  either 
sex,  an  idea  still  held  by  millions.  Aristotle 
modified  this  theory  by  assuming  that  the  femi- 
nine addition  was  like  a  material  which,  being 
inspired  with  life  by  that  of  the  male,  took  form, 
as  does  clay  or  marble  when  modelled  by  the 
sculptor.  Here,  indeed,  we  have  the  beginning 
of  an  idea  of  katabolic  or  male  energy  as  acting 
in  the  anabolic  or  passive  force.  Maupertuis 
among  the  moderns  formed  the  ingenious  but 
eccentric  theory  that  in  the  mingling  of  male 
and  female  semen  molecules  were  formed  which, 
obeying  the  laws  of  attraction  and  repulsion, 
became  human  things.  It  is,  however,  nothing 
against  this  theory  to  declare,  as  Capuron,  or 
Coen,  does,  that  it  would  reduce  the  process  to 
simple  crystallization,  since  the  latter  is  not  radi- 
cally different  from  organic  commencement.  This 
was  effectively  the  theory  of  Buffon,  who  believed 
that  different  groups  of  molecules  formed  the 
different  members  of  the  body. 

'  These  ancient  doctrines  prevailed  until  the 
middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  when  Stenone 
declared  that  the  ovary  was  a  deposit  of  actual 

to  trace  in  this  writer,  as  in  others  of  his  time,  the  beginning 
of  scientific  caution  and  suspicion  of  new  facts,  in  which  they 
were  sometimes  overscrupulous. 


28  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

ova,  or  eggs.  He  held  that  one  of  these,  after 
being  fecundated  by  the  male  sperm,  broke 
through  its  envelopment  and  passed  into  the 
womb,'  there  to  be  perfected.  This  was  a  great 
advance,  but  it  involved  great  error.  For  it  was 
observed  that  if  the  male  contribution  only 
vitalized  the  ovum,  or  egg,  it  would  follow  that 
all  results  would  be  feminine,  and  that  there 
could  be  no  half-breeds  such  as  mules  or  mulattos. 
And  neither  Malpighi,  Vallisnieri,  or  even  Haller, 
who  made  innumerable  experiments  or  researches, 
could  detect  a  formation,  either  in  the  womb  or  in 
the  passage  thereto,  before  the  eighteenth  day 
after  sexual  union.  All  of  this  was  complicated 
with  innumerable  theories  as  to  the  nature  of  the 
egg,  as  that  it  in  itself  contained  other  eggs  ad 
infinitum,  and  also  that  it  required  a  second 
fecundation. 

These  views  prevailed  for  more  than  a  century, 
until  Leuwenhoek  made,  through  one  of  his 
scholars,  Hamm,  a  great  discovery.  For  the 
student,  having  observed  that  in  the  male  semen 
there  were  what  appeared  to  be  animalculae  in 
great  numbers  swimming  about,  communicated 
the  fact  to  the  master,  who  proceeded  by  thou- 
sands of  microscopic  observations  to  prove  it. 
Capuron  ridicules  the  theory,  'because,  as  there 
are  thousands  of  male  germs  wasted  where  one 
succeeds  in  effecting  an  union.  Nature  cannot 
allow  such  waste,'  forgetting  that  of  the  eggs  of 
a  herring  not  more  than  i  in  30,000  ever  becomes 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  SEX  29 

a  fish,  while  the  loss  of  seeds  in  plants  is  incalcu- 
lable. And  he  finishes  this  remark  by  declaring 
— this  was  in  1838 — that  '  We  conclude,  there- 
fore, that  we  are  as  yet  in  ignorance  as  to  how 
generation  is  effected,  and  that  the  learned,  with 
all  their  experiments  and  systems,  have  not  as  yet 
solved  its  mystery  nor  lifted  the  veil.' 

It  is  just  worth  the  while  to  mention  that  Hip- 
pocrates and  Aristotle,  with  many  others,  formed 
theories  as  to  the  generation  of  males  or  females 
from  the  right  or  left  of  the  male  testes,  or  from 
the  same  relative  position  in  the  ovary  of  the  egg, 
and  from  the  influence  of  the  north  or  south  wind. 
Claudio  Quillet,  in  his  Callipedia,  taught  in  poetry 
how  to  have  beautiful  children,  and  Robert  how 
to  bestow  on  them  genius.  In  fact,  within  two 
or  three  years,  as  I  write,  a  professor  in  Vienna 
has  attempted  to  prove  that  some  of  this  can  be 
done. 

'  The  number  of  speculations,'  say  the  authors 
of  the  '  Evolution  of  Sex  '  (1898),  '  as  to  the 
nature  of  sex  has  been  wellnigh  doubled  since 
Drelincourt  in  the  last  century  brought  together 
two  hundred  and  sixty-two  "  groundless  hypo- 
theses," and  since  Blumenbach  quaintly  remarked 
that  Drelincourt's  own  theory  formed  the  two 
hundred  and  sixty-third.'  To  which  his  own  has 
since  been  added.  Perhaps  the  end  will  never  be 
quite  attained,  but  it  is  tolerably  certain  that,  so 
far  as  Science  has  progressed  of  late  years,  its 
conclusions,  being  records  of  simple  observation, 


30  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

are  truths,  '  inasmuch  as  the  present  theory  is 
for  the  first  time  an  expression  of '  the  facts  in 
terms  which  are  agreed  to  be  fundamental  in 
biology — those  of  the  anabolism  and  katabolism 
of  protoplasm.' 

Wolf  in  1759  had  anticipated  the  theory  of  the 
ovum  by  tracing  the  foetus  back  to  '  a  layer  of 
organized  particles,'  or  the  cells  of  to-day.  In 
1824  Prevost  and  Dumas  noticed  the  division  of 
the  ovum  into  masses,  and  soon  after  Purkinje 
discovered  its  nucleus  or  germinal  vesicle.  Thus, 
step  by  step,  its  actual  form  was  more  and  more 
determined,  while,  soon  after.  Von  Siebold  and 
Wagner  elucidated  the  real  nature  of  the  sperma- 
tozoa or  male  germs. 

In  1838  Schleiden  had  reduced  all  vegetable 
tissues  to  the  cellular  type — that  is,  found  the 
beginning  of  every  plant  in  a  single  nucleated  cell. 
This  was  the  origin  of  the  cell  theory,  and  the 
female  ovum  was  soon  recognised  as  a  cell.  '  Kol- 
liker  led  the  way,  now  so  well  followed  up,  in 
tracing  these  cells  to  their  results  in  the  tissues  of 
the  protoplasm '  ('  Evolution  of  Sex ').  The  sper- 
matozoon of  the  male  and  the  ovum  of  the  female 
are  both  cells  ;  sexual  reproduction  is  the  union 
of  these.  Agassiz  has  termed  this  ovum  '  the 
greatest  discovery  in  natural  science  in  modern 
times.' 

The  ovary  is  a  receptacle  in  two  divisions,  con- 
taining ovUy  or  minute  eggs.  It  corresponds  to 
the  testes  in  man,  suggesting  that  if  the  influence, 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  SEX  31 

whatever  it  may  be,  which  determines  sex  had 
created  a  male,  the  ovarium  would  have  been  a 
scrotum.  The  single  egg  consists  of  protoplasm, 
a  primary  substance  which  is,  however,  a  mass  of 
varied  substances — i.e.,  yolk-balls,  granules,  pig- 
ment, and  the  archoplasm  of  Boveri,  which  appears 
to  have  a  marvellous  influence  in  forming  the 
whole. 

In  this  is  the  nucleus  or  germinal  vesicle,  which 
is  in  reality  an  intricate  microcosm.  Within  this 
is  the  nucleolus  of  R.  Wagner  or  Schron,  a  ger- 
minal spot  within  the  vesicle,  and  '  even  this 
latter  has  a  very  complex  structure,  and  in  a 
sense  a  curious  internal  life  all  its  own.'  It  is 
the  opinion  of  Professor  O.  Hertwig  (Theorie  der 
Befruchtung)  that  the  cell-nuclei  determine  the 
sex.  He  declares  that, '  In  fertilization,  distinctly 
demonstrable  morphological  processes  occur.  Of 
these,  the  important  and  essential  one  is  the  union 
of  two  sexually  differentiated  cell-nuclei — i.e.,  the 
female  nucleus  of  the  ovum  and  the  male  nucleus 
of  the  sperm.  These  contain  the  fertilizing 
nuclear  substance,  which  is  an  organized  sub- 
stance, and  acts  as  such  in  the  process.  The 
female  nuclear  substance  transmits  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  mother,  the  male  nucleus  those  of 
the  father  to  the  offspring.' 

With  all  this,  other  authors — Joseph,  Nuss- 
baum,  Strassburger,  and  Boveri — declare  that 
the  protoplasm  or  sperm  exerts  as  much  influ- 
ence in  formation  as  the  nuclei.     It  is  probable 


32  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

that  both  are  essential.  There  i^  great  differ- 
ence of  opinion  among  scientists  as  to  the  process 
of  fertihzation.  According  to  Weismann,  '  The 
physiological  values  of  sperm  and  egg-cell  are 
equal.  We  can  hardly  ascribe  to  the  body  of  the 
ovum  a  higher  import  than  that  of  being  the 
common  nutritive  basis  for  the  two  conjugating 
nuclei.*  '  The  germ  plasma  in  the  male  and 
female  reproductive  cells  is  identical.' 

The  ovum  is  one  of  the  largest  of  cells,  and  the 
sperm  of  the  male  one  of  the  smallest.  The  latter 
has  its  cellular  origin  in  the  testes.  It  usually 
consists  of  a  minute  head  or  nucleus,  and  a  long 
contractile  tail,  which  propels  it  like  a  screw.  It 
is  generally  like  a  tadpole.  It  is  highly  active. 
Its  origin  and  constituent  parts  are  as  complex 
and  varied  as  those  of  the  ovum. 

Whether  the  sex  of  the  foetus,  or  being  begotten, 
is  derived  from  an  hermaphrodite  existence  in  the 
ovum,  which  is  only  fertilized  by  the  spermatozoon, 
or  whether  it  is  a  combination  of  the  two  germs, 
is  even  yet  a  subject  of  dispute,  owing  to  the  vast 
number  of  creatures  which  are  epicene  or  double 
sexed,  and  born,  as  it  were,  only  from  the  mother. 
The  truth  is  apparently  that,  as  the  male  influ- 
ence existed  in  a  latent  form  in  the  female,  and 
vice  versa,  both  theories  may  be,  in  fact, 
right. 

The  child  of  a  black  father  and  a  white  mother 
is  a  mulatto.  Most  children  exhibit,  more  or  less, 
not  only  the  characteristics  of  both  parents,  but 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  SEX  33 

even  those  of  grandparents,  sometimes  reproduc- 
ing by  atavism  those  of  remote  ancestors.  I  my- 
self in  infancy  and  boyhood  was  strongly  marked 
by  likeness  to  my  mother  and  her  family  ;  as  I 
grew  older  I  became  as  much  like  my  father.  And 
it  is  a  fact  to  notice  regarding  atavism,  for  more 
than  four  hundred  years,  fifty  years  have  never 
passed  but  that  one  of  my  name  has  published  a 
book  on  Antiquities  or  subjects  closely  allied  to 
them.  Therefore,  it  is  evident  that,  in  Man,  at 
least,  half  the  intellect  comes  more  or  less  from 
the  father. 

Bearing  this  fact  in  mind,  we  come  to  what  is, 
for  the  purpose  of  my  work,  the  most  important 
of  all — that  there  are  in  every  man  certain  female 
characteristics  of  a  marked  character.  One  of 
these  is  the  breasts  and  nipples.  There  are  un- 
questionable records  of  men  who  have  actually 
yielded  milk.  One  such  came  under  my  own 
observation.  There  is  another  of  an  American 
Indian  father,  who,  after  the  mother  died,  suckled 
his  child.  The  prostate  in  Man  is  simply  a  womb 
'  out  of  employment.'  When  I  once  asked  a  dis- 
tinguished Italian  physician.  Dr.  Paggi,  what  was 
its  real  use,  he  replied  :  '  To  annoy  men  sadly  as 
they  grow  old.'  There  are  also  other  peculiarities 
in  Man  which  are  manifestly  relics  of  the  female 
which  have,  so  to  speak,  no  bodily  use,  but  which, 
as  I  hope  to  show,  have  a  higher  endowment  in 
maintaining  in  us  a  female  mentality. 

According  to  Professor  Giacomo  Cattaneo,  in 

3 


K 


34  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

his  very  complete  '  Handbook  of  Embryology  and 
Morphology  '  (1895),  hermaphroditism  may  be  an 
original  condition.  'Then,  if  the  sexual  organs 
of  either  sex  weaken  away,  they  can  only  perform 
their  functions  as  male  or  female,  therefore  the 
reduction  of  one  sex  will  produce  the  more  de- 
veloped organs  of  another.  So  we  pass  from  one 
sex  to  another,  and  we  have  proof  of  this  in  the 
fact  that  males  generally  preserve  some  rudiments 
of  female  organs,  and  females  of  the  male.  The 
prostate  of  man  is  a  rudiment  of  an  uterus,  the 
clitoris  of  a  woman  that  of  the  masculine  organ.' 

In  Woman,  all  the  generative,  sexual,  or  genital 
organs  are  simply  those  of  man  subdued  or  varied. 
This  has  been  observed  for  centuries.  It  often 
happens  that  these  are  abnormally  developed,  so 
that  the  subject  passes  for  a  male,  or  even  parti- 
ally performs  the  functions  of  one  {exempli  gratia, 
ubi  clitoris  permagne  est).  There  are,  on  the  con- 
trary, males  in  whom  retrocession,  or  indrawing 
of  the  male  organ  and  the  rise  of  the  testes,  gives 
the  exact  appearance  of  the  female,  and  this  may 
last  from  birth  for  many  years,  or  till  death.  It  is 
not  long  since  a  young  lady  in  Dublin,  who  was  in 
the  beau  monde,  astonished  it  by  turning  into  a 
bond  fide  gentleman.  Such  instances  as  this  have 
induced  a  common  error  that  all  girls  can  be 
changed  to  boys.  Madame  de  Stael  tells  us  that, 
when  she  was  young,  she  passed  many  hours  in 
jumping,  having  been  told  that  it  would  convert 
her  into  a  male.     It  is  more  to  the  purpose  of  my 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  SEX  35 

argument  to  mention  that  both  the  male  and 
female  organs,  as  well  as  the  breast^,  can  actually 
be  p£rmangntly  enl§jg.ed  to  q^ny  extent  by  means 
of  an  afr-pump,  or  any  kind  of  receiver  with  a 
tube  which  is  exhausted  by  the  breath.  There 
are — not  very  reputable — physicians  who  prac- 
tise this.  I  have  even  seen  their  advertisements 
in  American  newspapers. 

There  are  also  women  who  have  moustach.es, 
and  even  beards,  of  which  I  have  seen  extraordi- 
nary cases.  In  all  these  instances  there  is  gener- 
ally a  voice  inclining  to  the  masculine,  with  other 
virile  manifestations,  such  as  a  strong  will,  and 
unusual,  energy,  or  great  se^^ual  pSSoii.  Per 
contra,  males  who  manifest  the  female  in  their 
organs  show  in  exact  degree  the  female  in  mind 
as  in  voice.  I  have  seen  an  American  Indian  who 
was  said  to  be  a  hermaphrodite.  He  certainly 
had  '  all  the  looks  '  of  a  woman,  with  a  piping 
female  voice. 

All  of  these  examples,  and  many  more  in  which 
books  on  physiology  abound,  confirm  strictly  the 
theory  that  in  exact  proportion  to  male  develop- 
ments in  woman,  or  the  female  in  man,  there  is  a 
corresponding  masculine  or  feminine  degree  of  men- 
tality. This  granted,  it  may  be  admitted  that 
there  must  be,  in  accordance  with  what  there  is 
left  of  the  other  sex  in  all  of  us,  just  so  much  of  its 
mind.  And  if  it  were  not  so,  the  whole  condition 
of  humanity  would  be  very  different. 

And  as  there  is,  beyond  all  question,  in  every 

3—2 


36  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

human  being  a  separate  Intellect  of  some  kind, 
which  thinks  thoughts  (as  is  shown  in  the  elaborate 
construction  of  dreams)  quite  separate  from  our 
own,  or  those  of  waking  reason,  it  is  far  more 
sensible  to  believe  in  such  an  existence  than  that 
our  own  mind  during  sleep  works  in  an  entirely 
different  field.  And,  granting  this  difference,  it  is 
in  naught  absurd  that  we  should  try  whether  it 
be  not  possible  to  bring  about  something  like  har- 
mony and  mutual  intelligence  between  the  two. 

In  which  investigation  and  study  I  am  reminded 
of  the  naive  observation  of  an  Italian  philosopher 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  who  remarked  :  '  Seneca 
tells  us  in  his  book  De  Natural.,  Quest.  6,  that 
*' there  are  many  things  in  Nature  which  man 
knoweth  not  as  yet,  yet  over  which  they  who 
are  to  come  will  greatly  consider.  .  .  .  For  truly 
there  are  in  Nature  many  things  passing  secretly 
and  unknown  to  us,  which  will  yet  be  revealed."' 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  FEMALE  MIND  IN  MAN  :  ITS  INFLUENCE  ON  THE 
INNER   SELF — OCCULTISM   AND   SPIRITUALISM. 

Macrobius  in  his  Saturnaliorum  (lib.  vii.)  declares  that 
*  Jupiter  is  the  Earth  and  Juno  his  wife  and  sister,  who  here 
means  the  Female  principle,  the  Air,  which  also  expresseth  the 
Allegory  that  Woman  ^came  from  Man  even  as  Man  was 
born  of  God.  And  as  Man  is  to  the  Earth  so  is  Woman  in 
her  lightness  to  Man.' 

There  has  been  much  writing  of  late  years, 
especially  among  Theosophists  and  Occultists  of 
all  kinds,  regarding  what  is  called  the  Subliminal 
Self,  the  Hidden  or  Inner  Soul,  the  Unknown 
Me,  or  Unconscious  Cerebration.  And  no  great 
wonder  either,  because  the  subject  is  at  first 
sight  not  only  deeply  mysterious  and  strangely 
curious,  but  it,  beyond  all  question,  involves  or 
suggests  a  vast  amount  of  phenomena  which 
Science  is  as  yet  incapable  of  explaining.  The 
Mesmerist,  the  Hypnotist,  the  Christian  Faith 
Curer,  all  fall  back  on  this  Esoteric  organization, 
and  adapt  it  to  their  theories.  And  as  it  may,  or 
must,  be  granted  that  man  thinks,  in  a  way,  in 
dreams  when  his  conscious  mind  and  will  are  cer- 
[37] 


38  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

tainly  asleep,  it  is  apparent  enough  that  another 
Self  of  some  kind  exists. 

I  believe  that  this  other  Self  is  nothing  else  but 
the  Alternate  Sex  in  us,  or  the  female  nature  in 
man  and  the  male  in  woman,  asserting  itself  when 
it  can  at  certain  times,  under  certain  conditions. 
But  it  is  so  deeply  and  mysteriously  allied  to  all 
the  faculties  and  powers  of  man  which  are  not 
identified  with  practical  reason  or  waking  common- 
sense,  that  its  investigation  casts  great  light  on 
many  subjects  which  all  psychology  has  hitherto 
regarded  as  inexplicable. 

Firstly,  then,  admitting  that  the  feminine  mind 
in  Man  is  the  controlling  influence  in  dreams,  it 
may  be  noted  that  whenever  we  fall  into  a  brown 
study,  even  while  awake,  there  often  steal  subtly 
and  strangely  into  it  real  dreams.  Dendy  and 
Macnish,  both  sober  Scotch  writers  on  such  sub- 
jects, assert,  if  I  remember  rightly,  that  even  the 
nightmare  declares  itself  under  such  conditions, 
and  is  then  termed  '  daymare.'  In  this  manner 
unconscious  cerebration  spreads  itself  over  con- 
scious thought,  as  a  film  of  oil  spreads  over  a 
pond  without  excluding  the  light.  This  merits 
attention,  because  under  many  other  circum- 
stances there  is  a  blending  of  the  two,  and  mutual 
influence  without  direct  identity  or  combination. 
But  the  gentle  and  imperceptible  manner  in  which 
the  Dream,  or  curious  and  strange  thoughts  glide 
unbidden  into  our  brown  studies,  is  altogether 
feminine.  ~'^     ^ 


THE  FEMALE  MIND  IN  MAN  39 

And  here  I  appeal  to  my  lady  readers  to  confirm 
the  assertion  that  while  the  same  phenomenon  is 
not  so  common  with  them  as  with  man,  the 
Thoughts  when  they  do  come  unbidden,  do  so 
more  abruptly  and  strongly — that  is  to  say,  in  a 
more  masculine  manner  than  with  nous  autres. 
For  that  they  do  I  am  well  assured.  Even  in  all 
ordinary  life,  when  an  original  idea  born  of  reflec- 
tion strikes  a  woman,  she  announces  it  with  more 
suddenness  or  emphasis  than  a  man  would,  as  all 
may  verify  with  little  observation. 

It  is  doubtful  whether,  were  it  not  for  the  female 
'  mind '  in  Man,  he  would  ever  conceive,  or  feel,  or 
write  poetry  at  all,  or  yield  to  any  sesthetic  influ- 
ences, or  perhaps  even  invent  anything.  For 
without  being  specially  a  poet,  she  supplies  the 
material  and  the  force,  or  the  contrasts  and  vivid 
imagery,  the  '  grotesqueness '  of  poetry.  Without 
her  in  himself,  Man  would  remain  in  many  respects 
a  mere  machine,  or  almost  a  brute.  And  this  is 
the  proof  thereof. 

Whenever  a  man  abstracts  his  mind  from  the 
ordinary  waking  causes  of  habitual  thought,  he 
invites  the  Dreamer.  It  may  be  to  compose  a 
poem  or  a  booCT  to  plan  a  picture  or  invent  a 
machine  or  think  of  a  business  combination  or 
argument  for  a  case  in  law.  That  is  to  say,  he 
begins  to  draw  on  his  memory  for  new  material, 
hoping  that  fresh  combinations  and  as  yet  un- 
realized results,  or  Ideas,  will  ensue  from  them. 
He  invariably  in  such  cases  hopes  and  tries  for 


40  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

Chances.  Now  it  is  just  the  business  of  the  Lady 
of  the  Dream  to  know  where  the  needed  images 
are  stored,  and  to  throw  them  together  helter- 
skelter  or  loosely  by  association,  and  the  mascu- 
line reason  when  this  is  done  for  it — which  it  could 
never  do  for  itself — knows  how  to  work  it  up  logi- 
cally and  practically.  Whenever  we  think  on  one 
subject,  and  new  ideas  '  out  of  the  common  '  begin 
to  suggest  themselves,  we  may  be  sure  that  our 
inward  librarian  is  getting  down  the  books  for  us. 
So  when  Nature  finds  an  organism,  a  unit 
beginning  from  some  '  fortuitous  assemblage  of 
atoms,'  she  supplies  material  and  forces,  but  there 
is  withal  ever  in  it  a  developing,  a  guiding  Idea, 
or  apparently  self-conscious  Unity  which  we  can- 
not explain.  Even  so,  Carpenter,  after  examining 
all  the  physiological  bases  of  Thought,  was  com- 
pelled to  admit  that  there  was  a  mysterious  master 
over  all  whom  he  could  not  understand.  This 
head  of  the  republic  is  apparently  the  masculine, 
ever  self-conscious  Reason.  If  I  here  appear  to 
fall  into  Mysticism,  it  is  only  the  Conjecture  in 
circumstances  or  possibilities  which  Science  has 
not  as  yet  explained.  In  such  cases  we  can  only 
be  guided  by  Analogy,  which  in  this  case,  how- 
ever, strongly  bears  out  the  theory .  For,  admit- 
ting my  idea  as  to  the  Dream,  we  shall  find  it 
curiously  confirmed  in  all  that  is  regarded  as 
occult  and  mysterious,  confused  and  as  yet  un- 
explained in  psychology,  and  in  what  many 
regard  as  '  aberrations  of  the  mind.' 


THE  FEMALE  MIND  IN  MAN  41 

If  we  depended  on  the  logical,  hard-and-fast 
common-sense  of  our  habitual  waking  daily  life 
for  new  ideas,  we  should  have  no  occasion  to 
abstract  our  minds,  since  what  we  know  in  it,  is 
familiar  to  us.  When  we  think  intently,  and  seek 
for  more,  we  always  open  the  door  more  or  less  to 
the  Dream. 

To  illustrate  this,  there  are  artists,  like  Leon- 
ardo da  Vinci,  who  cannot  at  times  get  subjects 
by  thinking,  but  find  them,  or  suggestions,  by 
looking  into  a  heap  of  ashes  or  the  like — just  as 
many  see  faces  or  landscapes  in  the  fire.  In  like 
manner  our  waking  sense  finds  in  the  images 
loosely  assembled  in  a  reverie,  material  and  sug- 
gestions for  ideas. 

Great  geniuses,  men  like  Goethe,  Shakespeare, 
Shelley,  Byron,  Darwin,  all  had  the  feminine  soul 
very  strongly  developed  in  them,  and  I  believe 
that  Coleridge  somewhere  makes  a  remark  to 
the  same  effect.  This  feminine  aid  is  not  genius 
itself,  nor  poetry,  but  it  is  the  Muse  which  in- 
spires man  to  make  it.  He  could  never  write 
anything  truly  original  or  beautifully  varied 
without  her  aid.  Nor,  on  the  other  hand, 
would  woman  create  mentally  and  vigorously 
without  the  aid  of  her  masculine  inner  Mentor, 
any  more  than  she  could  bear  a  child  per  se. 
The  outer-world  common-sense  of  Man  gives  him 
a  perceptive  power  of  selection,  or  of  putting 
into  proper  form  the  material  which  his  Muse 
supplies. 


42  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

There  are  innumerable 

*  Plain  and  straightforward,  true  common-sense, 
Economical,  practical  men,' 

who  do  good  work,  and  a  great  deal  of  it  in  this 
world  without  any  aid,  or  next  to  none,  from  the 
Woman  Within.  But  they  rarely  produce  any- 
thing original,  or  in  accordance  with  Beauty, 
because  they  lack  Imagination.  Now  all  of 
Imagination  is  not  due  to  the  ,iimer-wom§,5i  by 
anylneansj  but  there  would  be  none  without  her. 
Thus  by  merely  apparent  paradox,  Woman,  who 
is  so  rarely  if  ever  a  Humourist  in  real  life,  in- 
spires all  the  Humour  which  exists  in  Man.  For 
he  is  conscious,  while  she  is,  unconsciously,  what 
Edgar  A.  Poe  called  The  Angel  of  the  Odd. 

But  to  return  to  occult  powers  and  influences. 
I  suppose  that  the  reader  knows  what  a  planchette 
is.  No  !  Well,  it  is  a  small  thin  board  either 
oval  or  in  the  shape  of  a  heart.  It  has  two  short 
legs  on  castors  or  wheels,  and  a  third  support 
which  is  a  sharpened  lead-pencil.  This  is  placed 
on  a  sheet  of  writing-paper  which  is  on  a  table. 
If  one,  two,  or  three  rest  the  tips  of  their  fingers 
on  it,  it  will  after  a  time  begin  to  vibrate,  move 
about,  and  write.  This  writing  is  caused  by  the 
unconscious  thinking  of  some  one  of  those  who 
touch  it.  That  it  is  not  by  the  direct  action  and 
will  of  a  performer  is  evident,  because  no  one 
person  could  write  with  it  in  company  with  others. 
But  if  the  reader  would  get  a  planchette  for  him- 


THE  FEMALE  MIND  IN  MAN  43 

self — and  I  have  seen  them  for  sale  for  a  shilling 
or  two  each  in  the  Burlington  Arcade — he  can  be 
convinced  forthwith  by  experience  that  it  '  writes 
of  itself.' 

That  which  inspires  the  strange  gleams  of  sense 
or  wisdom  occuring  from  time  to  time  among 
the  nonsense  which  prevails  in  the  planchette- 
oracle,  is  the  Spirit  of  the  Dream,  in  which  there 
is  invariably  about  the  same  proportion  of  har- 
mony or  confusion.  I  have  already  asserted  that 
it  is  this  very  confusion  and  paradox  which  gives 
suggestion  and  new  ideas  to  the  seeker,  so  in  the 
oracles  of  old,  as  in  the  planchette  committee, 
there  is  invariably  some  one  to  pick  up  the  flying 
leaves,  adjust  and  explain  what  is  on  them.  For 
the  Lady  of  the  Dream  is  in  most  cases  as  much 
given  to  dramatic  mystery  as  was  the  Pythoness 
of  old,  wherein  she  bears  a  likeness  of  identity  to 
all  women,  since  Eve,  who  was  the  first  femme 
incomprise.  For  truly  no  person  of  sense  has  ever 
yet  been  able  to  understand  what  really  possessed 
her  to  eat  the  apple.  But  to  return  to  Planchette, 
no  one  who  has  fully  and  dispassionately  examined 
its  utterances  will  deny  that  they  bear  the  femi- 
nine impress. 

Now,  while  sober  mascuUne,  waking  conscious 
Thought  is  nothing  if  not  sure  and  direct,  it  is  the 
general  consensus  or  verdict  of  mankind  that  all 
mental  manifestations  in  Women  are  uncertain, 
Walter  Scott  adding  thereto  his  opinion  that  she 
was  '  coy  and  hard  to  please,'  wherein  few  will 


44  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

agree  to  differ  from  him.  So  the  answers  of  all 
oracles,  and  knowledge  drawn  from  occult,  sugges- 
tive, or  even  aesthetic  sources,  is  uncertain — a 
treading  among  quicksands  which  may  over- 
whelm us  or  yield  us  gold.  There  is  more 
depth  and  strength  in  this  theory  of  the  identity 
of  the  Uncertain  and  the  Feminine  than  appears 
at  first  sight.  And  there  is  nothing  in  which  it  is 
so  apparent  as  in  modern  Occultism,  beginning 
with  Spiritualism. 

I  believe  it  was  Huxley  who  spoke  of  this  faith 
or  art  as  '  intellectual  whoredom.'  Objection 
may  be  taken  to  the  refinement  of  the  simile ;  '  an 
aunt,'  as  the  French  saying  is,  '  would  not  permit 
her  niece  to  use  it ' — for  some  unexplained  reason 
aunts  in  France  are  regarded  as  the  strictest 
guardians  of  the  proprieties — but  there  can  be  no 
question  that  the  subject  vividly  suggested  to  the 
great  scientist  the  feminine  element.  For,  in  spite 
of  the  immense  amount  of  curious  phenomena 
which  it  presents,  there  is  in  it  such  a  vast  pre- 
ponderance of  the  Inexplicable,  the  Fantastic, 
and  the  Contradictory — that  is,  of  the  Uncertain 
— that  Science  cannot  in  conscience  admit  the  too- 
far-advanced  claims  of  its  leaders. 

Yet  there  is  in  it  all  beyond  doubt  much  fact  or 
latent  truth  as  yet  obscured  by  ignorance  of 
natural  laws  or  '  unrevealed  conditions.'  Why 
the  spirits  themselves,  who  must  know  the  most 
about  it,  have  not  long  ago  revealed  all  the  secrets 
of  molecular  or  atomic  harmony,  electricity,  ether, 


THE  FEMALE  MIND  IN  MAN  45 

or  sub-ether,  and  other  forces  on  which  their  life 
depends,  if  they  do  '  live  '  at  all,  is  very  perplex- 
ing. That  there  are  facts  to  be  known  and  real 
wonders  to  be  explained,  all  men  of  sense  believe. 
Meanwhile,  be  it  observed  that  all  this  living  in 
what  the  old  romance  of  Graysteele  calls  '  the 
Lande  of  Doubte,'  is  like  the  Dream  in  exact 
proportion  feminine.  It  gives  us  shy  glimpses 
of  wonders,  fitful  glances  of  the  marvellous  and 
terrible,  intermingled  with  the  nonsensical  and 
commonplace,  not  to  say  abjectly  silly,  and  alles 
wie  im  Traum,  all  as  we  would  expect  to  find  it  in 
a  vision — or  under  the  guidance  of  witches — for 
in  truth  no  one  would  ever  suspect  wizards  of 
such  cantrips.  And  it  is  really  worth  remarking 
that  in  all  legends  of  diablerie  it  is  the  Witch  who 
is  supposed  to  be  the  wildest  and  most  devoid  of 
reason. 

But  this  leads  us  to  more  serious  and  substantial 
facts,  which  I  will  discuss  in  another  chapter. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   MALE   INTELLECT   IN   WOMAN 

The  action  of  the  masculine  element  in  the  con- 
stitution, on  the  female  intellect,  is — as  may  have 
been  expected — less  marked,  less  peculiar;  we 
may  say  less  interesting  than  that  of  the  feminine 
in  man. 

For,  as  in  the  other  sex,  Man  or  the  inner  self, 
only  representing  so  much  of  his  sex  as  the  great 
early  struggle  of  the  germs  left  in  the  ovum,  is 
here  a  set-aside  being,  a  quantiU  negligeable,  with 
relatively  much  less  to  do  than  his  counterpart, 
the  Lady  of  the  Brain.  For  the  slave  or  sub- 
ordinate in  the  one  case  has  a  strong  master  who 
knows  how  to  turn  his  work  to  account — even 
as  the  owner  of  a  diamond  mine  knows  how  to 
have  cut  and  sent  to  market  the  gems  which  his 
slave  finds.  '  The  males — or  the  more  katabolic 
organisms — are  more  active,  energetic,  eager,  pas- 
sionate and  variable  ;  the  females  more  passive, 
conservative,  sluggish  and  stable.  The  former, 
as  Brooks  has  especially  emphasized,  are  very 
frequently  the  leaders  in  evolutionary  progress, 
[46] 


THE  MALE  INTELLECT  IN  WOMAN         47 

while  the  more  anabolic  females  tend  rather  to 
preserve  the  constancy  and  integrity  of  the 
species ;  thus,  in  a  word,  the  general  heredity  is 
perpetuated  by  the  female,  while  variations  are 
introduced  by  the  male.' 

Therefore,  where  there  is  not  a  specially  ener- 
getic, inquiring,  directing  or  creative  mind,  the 
revelations  of  the  Dream  in  a  reverie  are  less 
attended  to  than  in  the  reverse  case.  Now,  be  it 
observed,  that  while  the  male  intellect  in  woman, 
put  away  in  the  garret,  being,  as  masculine,  less 
fantastic,  and  given  to  making  Memories  dance  in 
ballets,  masques,  corantos,  sarabands  and  jigs, 
there  are  in  consequence  fewer  of  these  games ; 
that  is  to  say  that  Wonien  dream  le^^^^^ 
than  men,  and  that  indeed  so  very  much  less  so 
as  to  render  it  remarkable  that  so  many  of  yore 
had  visions  of  having  given  birth  to  torches  and 
eagles,  rivers,  and  all  kinds  of  oddities — it  being 
significant  that  it  was  almost  always  something 
concerning  generation  and  proci,§atiyeness.  And 
again,  of  old  there  was  Temide  (Eurip.  Iphig., 
V.  1259),  who  in  a  dream  revealed  the  awful  secrets 
of  the  gods  {ibid.,  v.  1271) : 

*  La  dea  Temide 
Che  allera  scopnia  in  sogno 
I  segreti  degli  Dei.* 

But  I  believe  this  myth  is  intended  to  set  forth 
the  awful  inability  of  a  woman  tQ, keep  ,a,^^^S^^^ 
rather  than  her  power  as  a  dreamer.     Penelope, 


48  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

it  is  true,  dreamed  the  return  of  Ulysses  (Odyss. 
19),  but  spoke  of  it  with  doubt,  and  as  one  not 
accustomed  to  such  phenomena.  And  with  her, 
it  was,  as  usual,  something  personal. 

Women,  while  they  have  better  average  worldly- 
working  memories  than  men — while  they  men- 
tally record  the  names  and  appearance  of  people 
and  all  which  concerned  themselves  more  accu- 
rately, and  for  a  much  longer  time,  have,  on  the 
contrary,  no  tendency  at  all  to  amass,  like  magpies 
or  crows,  all  kinds  of  odds  and  ends  of  recollec- 
tion. Truly,  I  know  not  how  it  may  be  in  fact, 
but  I  dare  say  that  among  the  former  birds,  who 
carry  the  making  of  museums  and  stealing  of  bric- 
£L-brac  so  far  as  even  to  select  well-made  celts  and 
other  Neolithic  remains,  and  old  coins,  for  their 
collections,  it  is  only  the  males  who  display  this 
incredible  love  of  vertu.  However,  it  can  hardly 
be  denied  that  in  this  respect — Vir  unus  prce 
mille  fceminis — '  a  hat,  indeed,  excels  a  hundred 
caps.'* 

One  cannot  imagine  a  female  Burton  of  the 
*  Anatomy  of  Melancholy,'  a  Rabelais,  a  Villon, 
a  Washington  Irving,  or  any  other  of  the  minds 
who,  being  filled  and  inspired  with  quaint,  strange 
memories  of  olden  time,  and  black  and  silver 
flaked,  or  mellowed  notes  of  merriment,  and  jests 
which,  like  the  many  coloured  gems  in  a  kaleido- 

*  *Unum  capitium  pluris  est,  qukm  sexcentae  calanticae. 
Ital.  :  Val  piu  una  beretta,  che  centi  cappe.' — Monosini 
Thesaurus,  1608. 


THE  MALE  INTELLECT  IN  WOMAN  49 

scope,  flash  one  another  into  Hfe — rush  onward, 
not  to  produce  a  work  of  art — as  women  ever  do — 
but  to  give  way  to  emotion,  and  the  art  impulse. 
Truly  it  is  as  if  Memory,  with  such  writers,  were 
like  a  balloon  which  is  filled  with  laughing  gas — 
until  in  time  it  rises,  and  carries  away  its  owner — 
far  over  the  clouds  into  a  fairyland. 

In  Woman  the  Every-day  Waking  Self,  taking 
small  account  or  little  notice  of  what  does  not 
immediately  concern  herself,  her  entourage,  and 
especially  the  dear  children,  makes  small  record 
of  such  facts  or  fancies  as  would  be  of  value  in 
true  works  of  Imagination.  As  is  the  Memory, 
so  the  Dream  will  be,  and  as  the  dreams,  in  truth 
the  poetry.  That  any  woman  should  ever,  in 
looking  over  a  room  full  of  quaint  antiquities, 
take  the  least  interest  in  anything  as  men  do, 
would  be  as  unusual  as  one  who  did  not  exclaim 
*  How  interesting  !'     There  are  exceptions. 

Man  in  woman  keeps  a  shop,  but  has  a  scant 
supply  of  goods,  and  few  customers — or  a  circu- 
lating Hbrary,  wherein  there  is  no  quaint  or 
poetic  literature,  though  there  may  be  plenty  of 
novels.  I  do  not  say  that  there  are  no  women 
who  dream,  for  there  are  a  great  many,  but  their 
dreams  are  not  like  Man's.  If  they  were,  they 
would  think  and  write  like  man. 

Now,  if  there  be  any  lady  readers  who  think 
that  this  is  to  their  discredit,  let  them  remem- 
ber that,  while  the  female  soul  in  man  is  half 
the  cause  of  all  his  Genius — for  he  would  be  an 

4 


50  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

awfully  mechanical,  reasonable,  logical,  Lack- 
Understanding  being  or  brute,  without  her — per 
contra,  the  Gentleman  in  her  brain  is,  though  an 
occasionally  Useful  fellow  in  his  small  way,  not 
to  be  compared  to  '  the  party  of  the  other  part.' 

Where  he  does  display  himself  is  just  where  he 
might  be  expected  by  Scientific  Induction  to  be 
found,  that  is,  more  or  less  in  the  practical  life  of 
such  an  eminently  practical  creature  as  Woman. 
'  The  spasmodic  bursts  of  activity  in  males,'  says 
Geddes,  '  contrast  with  the  continuous  patience 
of  the  females.'  This  continuous  patience  means 
'  common-sense.'  Woman  has,  with  all  her  gods 
of  fashion  and  vanity,  more  plain,  sensible  selfish- 
ness than  man,  if  we  take  the  word  in  its  true  and 
not  in  its  restricted,  meaning. 

The  Male  element  in  Woman  almost  always 
comes  out  whenever  she  determines  to  be  what  is 
in  America  called  a  *  Come-outer,'  or  one  who 
manifests  herself  in  life.  Thus  Joan  of  Arc — as 
the  Rev.  J.  Wood  Brown  again  suggests — was  a 
girl  who  had  hypnotised  herself  into  masculinity. 
But  she  followed  Ideals  already  created  by  others 
before  her.  So  did  Catherine  of  Siena  and  Saint 
Teresa,  and  the  whole  sisterhood.  They  were 
maintained  by  male  invention,  and  sustained  by 
the  masculine  element  in  their  brains.  They  had 
read  Lives  of  Saints  manufactured  by  monks — 
the  male,  drawn  from  memory,  is  as  evident  in 
them  as  the  female  is  in  sweet  Francis  of  Assisi — 
who  had  indeed  but  one  idea,  '  Brother  Wolf,'  and 


THE  MALE  INTELLECT  IN  WOMAN  51 

*Dear  Sister  Cabbage,'  and  'Cousin  Rosy-posy' 
— all  as  feminine  conceptions  as  could  be.  It  is 
the  same  in  Olympia  Fulvia  Morata,  who  lectured 
by  preference  to  Heidelberg  students,  just  as 
Lola  Montez  associated  with  those  of  Munich  in 
a  club  of  which  she  was  President.  And  it  is 
shown  to-day  in  the  works  of  many  women  who, 
instead  of  developing  the  Ideal  Woman,  strive  to 
urge  in  their  sisters  an  imitation  of  the  homasse, 
or  imperfect  Man,  forgetting  that  in  his  own  fields 
Man  always  advances,  as  Goethe  declares,  a  thou- 
sand steps  to  their  one. 

This  was  amusingly  shown  in  the  controversy 
as  to  whether  women  should  smoke,  which  was 
carried  on  some  years  ago  in  London  newspapers. 
In  which  it  appeared  that  the  great  majority  of 
intellectual  ladies  were  of  the  opinion  that,  to 
surpass  Man  in  great  Virtues,  it  is  necessary  to 
just  rival  him  in  small  vices. 

It  was  the  same  with  '  George '  Sand  and  her 
disciple,  '  George  '  Eliot,  especially  the  former,  all 
of  whose  great  works,  or  letters,  were  not  only  sug- 
gested, but  actually  written  in  great  part  by  men. 
Thus  '  Consuelo,'  her  principal  book,  owed  its 
origin  firstly  to  a  forgotten  German  novel  by 
Herlossohn,  author  of  '  When  the  Swallows 
Homeward  Fly,'  and  secondly  to  some  man, 
possibly  to  Liszt.  For  it  is  absolutely  impos- 
sible that  any  human  being  who  had  gone  to  the 
obscurest  depths  of  old  Bohemian  mysticism,  for 
which  a  knowledge  of  Czech  was  required,  could 

4—2 


52  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

have  written  many  other  books  in  which  there  is 
no  trace  of  such  tendency.  Qui  en  a  hu,  boira — 
he  who  has  once  tasted  of  that  fairy-fountain  will 
show  the  intoxication  for  ever.  And  when  George 
Sand  Dudevant  writes  herself,  no  author  was  ever 
so  free  from  it.  One  might  doubt  whether  she 
had  really  read  her  own  work — or  the  one  so 
called.  Her  books  recall  the  Exhibition  of  Pic- 
tures by  a  noted  actress,  of  which  there  were 
forty  in  forty  different  styles — each  correspond- 
ing to  that  of  the  gentleman  who  had  painted  it. 
George  Eliot  was  undoubtedly  a  genius,  as  was 
in  her  own  way  George  Sand.  But  George  Eliot 
herself  told  me  that  she  had  read  through  two 
hundred  books  in  order  to  write  '  Daniel  Deronda.' 
It  flashed  upon  my  mind  to  reply,  though  I 
did  not  say  it,  that  she  would  have  done  better 
to  talk  with  two  hundred  common  Jews,  and 
have  learned  Yiddish.  I  doubt  whether  she 
knew  ten  words  of  Lonsnekutish,  or  the  holy 
language ;  and  a  Jew  who  greatly  admired  her 
work  admitted  to  me  that  without  this  tongue 
no  one  could  really  penetrate  into  common 
Jewish  life.  And  the  same  lady  in  speaking  of 
her  Spanish  Gypsy,  admitted  that  she  had  only 
seen  Gypsies  or  spoken  to  them  two  or  three 
times  in  her  life.  Pott  says  the  same  in  his  im- 
mense '  Thesaurus  of  the  Gypsy  Dialects,'  the 
result  being  that  it  is  full  of  blunders.  All  of 
which  indicates  material  and  thought  drawn 
from   works   by   men.     I   say   nothing    against 


THE  MALE  INTELLECT  IN  WOMAN  53 

Genius,  but  when  one  pretends  to  make  pictures 
of  real  life,  he  or  she  should  have  known  it — 
honestly. 

The  chief  reason  why  there  are  so  few  Un- 
doubted Originals  among  writers,  but  especially 
among  Women,  is  not  by  any  means  that  they  are 
wanting  in  the  power  to  be  so,  but  because  they 
all  have  the  End  in  view — that  is,  the  reward,  or 
honorarium.  They  invariably  consider  their  art 
as  conducive  to  an  object,  else  why  work  ?  This 
induces  as  a  matter  of  course  the  keeping  within 
the  liinits  of  what  wiU  be  popular,  and  of  being 
'  in  the  swim,'  all  of  which  handicaps  the  innate 
impulse  to  create,  which  is  the  soul  of  genius. 

For  with  all  the  Culture  attainable,  and  perhaps 
with  a  fine  perception  of  Beauty  and  Humour  in 
her  Outer  life,  and  living  in  light  fancies.  Woman 
is  not  supported  by  much  material  from  within ; 
her  inborn  Gentleman  not  being  quick  or  adroit 
with  his  memories  or  aid,  and  her  waking 
Reason  lacking  more  or  less  Man's  power  of 
selection  and  co-ordination,  derived  from  greater 
experience  and  strength.  Under  all  these  con- 
ditions the  laissez  aller  and  abandon  of  genius  at 
play,  or  even  at  work,  are  not  to  be  expected. 

But  note  well,  oh  reader — albeit  many  a  one 
among  you,  and  especially  many  a  woman,  will 
do  nothing  of  the  kind — that  I  do  not  say  that  all 
of  the  sex  conform  exactly  to  this  description,  or 
to  these  conditions.  '  By  the  fourteenth  horn  of 
the  devil,'  said  Bastian,  '  I  did  not  mean  that  all 


54  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

the  girls  in  Perugia  are  sono  puttone,  or  of  evil 
life.'  For  most  do  vary  from  it,  more  or  less.  The 
Woman  in  man  and  the  Lady  of  his  brain  form 
but  a  small  factor  in  the  general  work  of  daily 
life,  and  many  could  dispense  with  them  alto- 
gether. But  that  in  all  Art  Woman  is  prone  to 
follow  instead  of  lead,  when  she  might  just  as 
well  do  the  latter  if  she  chose,  and  ofttimes 
better,  I  have,  I  trust,  explained.  And  then 
observe,  with  your  spectacles  well  adjusted,  that 
there  is  no  such  great  gush  and  crowd  of  geniuses 
and  originals  in  these  hard  times,  even  among 
Men,  those  who  write  for  the  mob  and  for  money 
and  for  nothing  else,  and  who  would  see  Litera- 
ture to  the  devil,  and  further,  unless  it  paid; 
being  in  anything  but  a  light,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
a  very  dark  majority,  or  a  gloomy  thunder-cloud 
of  witnesses  to  the  fact  that  ability  or  summariz- 
ing with  the  multitude  means  the  art  of  running 
up  a  bill,  and  of  being  '  popular.' 

Men  to  a  certain  degree  aid  and  develop  the 
Lady  within  by  supplying  her  with  more  material 
for  the  Memory — that  is  to  say,  of  varied  curious 
sorts,  such  as  can  be  used  in  Art  of  any  kind — 
than  Women  do.  And  they  call  her  into  action 
far  oftener,  and  bring  her  to  their  aid  by  attempt- 
ing to  solve  problems  in  life,  writing  poetry,  con- 
juring up  visions  of  all  kinds  from  within.  Yea, 
a  thousandtimes  where  Woman  does  so  once — 
not  that  she  does  not  think,  oftentimes  as  cleverly 
and  bravely  as  the  best  of  us — '  it  is  not  there  the 


THE  MALE  INTELLECT  IN  WOMAN  55 

harp-string  is  cracked,'  quoth'a.  But  the  Sexes 
cast  their  minds  out  unto  the  world  and  its 
fashions  and  Dame  Grundyisms  and  the  Hke  for 
inspiration,  and  do  not  consult  the  oracle  within, 
who,  poor  devil !  has  ever  been  kept  down  by 
neglect  and  short  commons,  so  that,  like  Ralph's 
dog,  who  was  never  allowed  to  bark,  '  when  the 
thieves  came  he  couldnH,^  Which  proverb  is 
worth  some  study  by  strict  parents  who  bring  up 
their  offspring  so  well  as  to  take  all  the  '  spring ' 
out  of  them. 

Now,  if  Women  would  pay  more  attention  to 
their  Gentleman  within,  feeding  him  better,  giving 
him  brave  and  generous  and  liberal  thoughts,  not 
all  of  personal  interest,  they  would  find  that  his 
intellect  and  power  would  increase,  and  repay  it 
all  a  hundredfold. 

For  it  was  a  saying  of  yore,  and  one  of  great 
wisdom,  that  while  the  more  water  you  add  to 
your  wine  the  weaker  the  wine  will  be,  so,  per 
contra,  the  more  wine  you  pour  into  water  the 
wineyer  will  the  latter  become — perdisti  vinum 
infusa  aqua.  For  Man  indeed  feeds  his  prisoner 
far  better,  while  Madame  is  skrimpy  to  her  own, 
the  result  being,  as  usual,  that  the  less  the  nourish- 
ment the  worse  the  work. 

Now,  it  is  a  good  thing,  as  I  have  elsewhere 
shown,  when  the  two  can  respectively  fall  in  love 
with  their  prisoners,  as  is  genially  depicted  in  an 
old  French  play,  whereby  the  well-being  of  both 
can  be  immensely  advantaged. 


56  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  throughout  this  book 
that  it  is  nowhere  asserted  that  the  two  sexes 
have  not  a  great  deal  in  common,  and  that  ex- 
perience of  the  same  hfe,  education,  appetites, 
and  habits  assimilates  them  more  and  more. 
For  there  are  those  who  always  jump  to  extreme 
conclusions  (and  they  are  the  very  pests  and  im- 
pediments of  advancing  truths  or  ideas),  who, 
grasping  at  what  strikes  them  most  in  anything 
new,  and  which  they  perhaps  do  not  understand 
in  its  relations  at  all,  proceed  forthwith  to  explain 
with  what  power  of  sarcasm  the  devil  has  gifted 
them  withal  to  ridicule  the  whole.  And  I  can- 
didly confess  that  what  I  have  written  is  often 
open  to  such  critics,  for  as  a  pioneer  I  have  left 
many  a  stump,  and  here  and  there  a  hole  not 
filled  up,  and  it  is  eminently  characteristic  of  the 
class  I  speak  of  to  require  strictly  of  the  pioneer 
that  he  shall  make  a  highway  plus  quam  perfec- 
turn,  even  to  the  toll-houses,  or  a  side-walk  like 
that  of  a  citizen  of  New  Orleans,  which,  when 
it  was  criticised  by  the  mayor  as  not  in  order, 
was  waxed  and  polished,  strewn  with  rose-leaves, 
and  perfumed  with  eau-de-Cologne.* 

Now,  to  a  certain  degree,  the  alternate  sexes 
having  charge  of  the  deferred,  or  as  yet  unde- 
veloped faculties  of  the  mind,  also  necessarily  deal 
with  the  occul^  or  what  as  yet  appears  to  be  such 
to  us.  So,  although  Woman  is  objectively,  or  to 
the  World  pre-eminently,  mysterious,  the  male 

*  A  fact.     It  occurred  not  long  before  the  Civil  War. 


THE  MALE  INTELLECT  IN  WOMAN  57 

intellect  in  her,  entering  into  the  spirit  of  and 
understanding  dream-making  and  hypnotism, 
mental  telepathy,  spectre-raising,  and  divination, 
manages  and  aids  them,  as  required,  even  as  our 
Lady  does  in  Us.  But,  be  it  observed  that  all 
of  these  phenomena  in  themselves  are  no  more 
works  of  Thaumaturgy  or  Miracles  than  making 
chlorine  gas  or  oxygen  is  to  a  chemist.  So  we 
find  women  predominant  as  media,  and  as  the 
visited  by  Saints  and  the  Virgin,  their  inner 
goblin  doing  most  obligingly  in  any  form  required 
any  kind  of  theatrical  work  to  order.  For,  as 
men  can  and  do  hypnotize  or  conjure  both  sexes, 
so  women  have  also  a  double  action. 

And  be  it  carefully  observed,  '  for  herein  is 
wisdom  ' — abundat  hie  sapientid — that  while  the 
male  in  woman  develops  himself  abundantly  as 
an  active,  vigorous  element  in  aU  occult  work 
whatever,  he  does  not  show  himself  ranch  as  an 
aid  to  invention  or  poetry,  to  very  original  works 
of  Imagination,  Art,  Humour,  or  the  like,  because 
he  is  not  called  on  to  do  such  work  from  Without, 
while  as  a  reasoner  of  the  masculine  order,  he  is 
utterly  cramped  and  stunted  or  banished  from 
the  Objective  life. 

As  we  are  continually  meeting — yes,  perhaps 
daily  meet — in  cities  women  who  are  gne-half,  or 
one-quarter,  or  one-eighth,  or  so  on,  male,  these 
being  the  mulattoes,  quadroons,  octoroons,  metis, 
and  so  on  of  Sex,  so  there  are  in  the  Inner  Sell 
similar  half-breeds,  all  adapting  themselves  to  cir- 


/\ 


58  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

cumstances  with  perfect  ease.  The  Greeks  recog- 
nised that  such  a  being  could  exist  even  in  har- 
mony with  Nature,  and  so  beautified  and  ideaUzed 
it  as  Sappho.  But,  in  fact,  the  Sappho  soul, 
though  latent  or  hidden,  exists  unsuspected  in 
innumerable  women,  and  it  would  reveal  itself  in 
poetry  and  art  as  in  her,  if  those  who  have  it 
would,  instead  of  following  worn-out  models,  as 
all  women  do,  develop  their  own  Imaginations. 

As  to  the  action  of  the  male  in  female  mentality, 
especially  regarding  dreams  and  occult  power  or 
capacity,  active  or  passive,  it  awaits  a  vast 
amount  of  testimony  and  careful  examination, 
especially  from  Women.  For,  while  I  believe 
that  my  leading  propositions  are  true — that  is  to 
say,  that  my  road  through  the  wilderness  has 
been  fairly  well  surveyed — there  still  remains 
much  to  be  done. 

On  proposing,  while  writing  the  foregoing,  to 
a  young  lady  of  somewhat  more  than  average 
intelligence  and  reading  this  idea  of  the  dual  sex 
in  us,  she  promptly  repudiated  it,  being  certain 
that  her  own  intellect  was  entirely  feminine — 
in  fact,  she  was  averse  to  being  indebted  to  Man 
in  any  way.  I  understood  why,  when  she  not 
long  after  urged  me  to  read,  and  lent  me,  one  of 
the  works  in  which  the  Superior  Sex  is  exalted 
in  every  way,  indirectly  when  not  directly,  above 
man — a  work,  in  fact,  to  make  many  a  girl  beUeve 
that  the  male  sex  is  destined  to  shrink  away  in 
time  to  the  relative  proportion  which  the  spider- 


THE  MALE  INTELLECT  IN  WOMAN  59 

husband  has  to  his  gigantic  spouse,  or  even  as  in 
the  Copopods,  or  Water -fleas,  where  the  Hes 
'  diminish  even  to  a  vanishing-point.'  And  if 
any  think  that  I  exaggerate,  let  them  get  some  of 
this  Uterature,  and  read  it,  when  they  will  grant 
that,  according  to  all  the  laws  of  deduction  and 
logic,  this  is  precisely  that  unto  which  these 
Women-Righters  are  tending.  '  Plus  des  vilains 
hommes — vive  la  Femme  P 


CHAPTER  VI 

DREAMS,  AS  INFLUENCED  BY  THE  OPPOSITE  SEX 
IN  US,  AND  AS  INDICATING  SEPARATE  MENTAL 
ACTION 

*  Somnium  proprie  vocatur  quod  tegit  figuris,  et  velat  am- 
bagibus  non  nisi  interpretatione  intelligendam  significationem 
rei/— Macrobius  :  On  the  Dream  of  Scipio. 

As  every  organism  has  its  degree  of  intelligence, 
emotion,  or  consciousness  in  exact  concordance 
with  its  physical  structure  ;  as  the  instincts  of  the 
bee  are  not  those  of  the  butterfly,  nor  those  of 
man  the  same  as  those  of  woman,  so  we  may  con- 
clude that  if  any  being  has  a  corporal  or  bodily 
quality  or  function  in  common  with  another,  it 
will  also  have  a  corresponding  degree  of  '  men- 
tahty  '  resembling  it.  Natural  History  illustrates 
and  establishes  this  truth  ad  infinitum.  So  far  as 
bees  and  wasps  resemble  one  another,  they  have 
similar  habits  as  regards  forming  homes,  pre- 
paring for  their  young,  and  the  like.  Thus, 
though  widely  differing  in  many  respects,  there 
are  certain  faculties  in  common  wherein  the  wasp 
[60] 


DREAMS  6i 

is  actually  a  bee,  and  vice-versa.  It  is  the  same 
as  regards  Man  and  Woman. 

It  will  have  appeared  from  what  is  given  in  the 
preceding  chapter  that  in  the  struggle  for  sex 
between  the  male  and  female  germs  neither  ever 
attains  a  complete  supremacy  or  victory.  Some- 
thing of  the  female  remains  in  the  male,  something 
of  the  latter  in  the  former.  Therefore,  there 
should  be,  as  there  undoubtedly  is,  in  accordance 
with  all  analogy,  a  certain  degree  of  feminine 
mentality  in  Man,  and  of  the  masculine  in  woman, 
which,  however,  in  both  adapts  itself  to  certain 
conditions,  according  to  the  law  of  variability, 
without  changing  its  original  nature. 

As  the  conquering  principle,  or  sex,  manifests 
itself  boldly  and  actively  in  life,  visibly  and  prac- 
tically, so  the  conquered,  still  existing,  hides  and 
acts  chiefly  in  that  inner  life  or  world  of  the  brain 
or  self,  which  has  only  to  a  limited  degree  anything 
in  common  with  self-consciousness  and  worldly 
experience.  If  we  will  consider  the  case  of  the 
female  mind  in  man,  we  must  firstly  recognise 
that  the  latter  pre-eminently  fulfils  all  the  condi- 
tions of  mental  action,  as  set  forth  by  Locke, 
*  On  the  Understanding.'  He  thinks  according  to 
Sensation  and  Reflection,  we  might  say,  if  he  never 
went  astray,  according  to  '  Common-Sense,'  as 
understood  by  Dugald  Stewart  and  other  Scotch 
philosophers.  He  only  draws  from  Memory  such 
images  as  are  required  for  practical  thought.  He 
is  largely  guided  by  Experience.     All  of  this  con- 


62  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

duces  to  reason  and  logic,  which  are  waking 
faculties,  therefore  he  really  thinks  only  while 
self-conscious  and  awake.  When  he  sleeps,  all, 
or  nearly  all,  his  thinking  power  sleeps  with  him. 
The  more  these  faculties  are  developed  in  him, 
plainly  and  simply,  the  less  does  he  dream,  the 
less  is  he  influenced  by  all  that  is  visionary,  fan- 
tastic, or  imaginary.  This  is  the  primary  prin- 
ciple ;  I  do  not  here  discuss  exceptions  and  varia- 
tions, of  which  there  are  many. 

As  the  female  mind  in  man  is  excluded  from  his 
outer  life,  so  does  it  retreat  into  those  inner  hidden 
chambers  of  the  brain  of  which  self-conscious  in- 
tellect takes  little  heed.  And  as  woman  in  or- 
dinary life  thinks  and  acts  less  from  reason  and 
reflection  than  man,  and  much  more  from  emotion 
and  suggestion  and  first  myg^e^lion,  so  in  exact 
proportion  do  we  find  that,  as  an  inner  or  hidden 
mind  in  man,  she  displays  the  same  character- 
istics. For  she  is  the  fitful  guardian  angel,  or 
spirit  of  the  Dream. 

To  understand  the  Dream,  we  must  first  con- 
sider that  it  consists  of  images  drawn  from 
Memory,  lightly  and  more  or  less  consistently 
connected.  To  illustrate  this  by  simile,  we  may 
say  that  Man's  reason  during  his  waking  hours 
walks  with  pre-intent  in  a  garden,  and  picks 
certain  known  flowers,  which  it  puts  together  into 
a  bouquet  of  a  predetermined  character.  The 
Lady  of  the  Dream  flits  through  gardens  and 
fields,  culling  at  random  flowers,  blossoms,  fan- 


DREAMS  63 

tastic  weeds,  sometimes  for  their  beauty,  but 
quite  as  often  with  no  thought  whatever.  The 
Dream  is  the  action  of  a  mind  which  has  free 
access  to  the  vast  stores  of  images  in  the  memory, 
most  of  which  have  been  forgotten  by  mascuhne 
waking  wisdom  or  reflection  ;  and  it  disposes  of 
them  with  more  or  less  aid  from  the  latter.  For 
reason  does  not  always  entirely  sleep,  nor  is  the 
female  mind  in  man  quite  irrational,  but  often 
manifests  intention  to  a  remarkable  extent,  pro- 
ducing the  dreams  which,  when  remembered, 
seem  to  be  miraculous.  Taking  every  condition 
into  consideration,  all  that  we  know  of  the  Dream 
indicates  feminine  influence.  "^''^ 


CHAPTER  VII 

MEMORY,    AND    ITS    RELATIONS    TO    THE    INNER 
SELF 

*  Very  few  people  know  what  the  average  human  capacity 
or  latent  power  of  Memory  in  Man  really  may  become  when 
properly  trained.' — Practical  Education  (1890). 

When  Paley  employed  his  famous  simile  of  the 
watch,  which  he  took  without  acknowledgment 
from  Sir  Kenelm  Digby — that  is  to  say,  if  a  man 
should  find  such  an  object,  he  would  conclude  that 
some  other  person  had  made  it — he  artfully  sug- 
gested invention  and  originality.  But  a  thinker 
would  infer  nothing  of  the  kind,  for  he  would  know 
that  the  mere  maker  had  copied,  or  perhaps  im- 
proved it,  from  another  watch,  and  so  trace  it 
back  to  the  clepsydra  and  hour-glass. 

When  Descartes  declared  that  '  Cogito,  ergo 
sum  ' — '  I  think,  therefore  I  am  ' — was  the  begin- 
ning of  metaphysics,  he  omitted  to  state  that  it 
implied  three  antecedent  conditions — firstly,  to 
explain  the  subjective  I ;  secondly,  what  thinking 
meant ;  and  thirdly,  what  '  I  am  '  or  being  is. 

Even  so,  when  physiologists  in  the  last  century 
[64] 


MEMORY  65 

assumed  the  cell  as  the  beginning  of  life,  they  did 
not  consider  that  it  consisted,  as  I  have  before 
stated,  of  the  nucleus,  membrane,  and  nucleoli, 
its  greatly  varied  forms,  or  the  protoplasm  of 
which  it  was  made — every  one  of  which  re- 
quired deep  study  to  understand  the  result. 

So,  when  we  speak  of  the  memory,  most  people 
consider  it  as  a  thing  per  se,  original  in  itself,  ac- 
cording to  old-fashioned  psychology,  a  spiritual 
function — in  short,  a  mystery.  But  modern 
physiology  goes  further  back,  and  analyzes  it,  and 
finds  that  it  is  an  aggregate  of  all  the  images  or 
ideas  which  we  have  ever  received  from  Sensation. 
Every  one  of  these  has  its  cell  wherein  it  dwells, 
like  a  prisoner  or  a  monk,  awaiting  call. 

The  masculine  mind  has  within  its  cognition  or 
knowledge  a  certain  number  of  these  images,  but 
there  are  millions  which  it  never  calls  forth  or  has 
forgotten.  But  the  Lady  of  the  Brain,  being  her- 
self a  mysterious,  half-hidden  being,  seems  to  be 
far  more  familiar  with  them.  When  reason  and 
conscious  thought  go  to  sleep,  she  flits  about,  and, 
inspired  by  some  strange  power  or  half-determined 
will,  calls  forth  the  conceptions,  and  by  careless 
association  combines  them  into  a  dream.  All  of 
this  is  done  precisely  in  the  spirit  and  manner  in 
which  women  talk  and  act — that  is  to  say,  when 
they  are  very  feminine,  and  do  not  use  experience 
and  reason  to  any  great  degree.  And  it  must  be 
remembered  that  the  woman  in  man  is  only  a  part 
of  the  general  entire  feminine  mental  organiza- 

5 


66  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

tion,  but  what  there  is  of  it  is  entirely  of  woman, 
womanly.  The  longer  and  more  deeply  the 
reader  will  reflect  on  this,  the  more  instances  he 
collects,  the  more  will  he  be  struck  by  it,  or  the 
fact  that  all  the  special  characteristics  wherein 
woman  is,  rightly  or  wrongly,  popularly  declared 
to  differ  from  man,  are  clearly  manifested  in  the 
development  of  dreams,  and  as  I  shall,  I  trust, 
subsequently  prove,  in  many  other  respects. 
Even  in  ordinary  waking  life  it  may  be  observed 
that  women  recall  casually  and  unexpectedly,  as 
it  were  by  a  kind  of  inspiration,  more  memories 
which  seem  to  have  been  forgotten  than  men 
do,  without  having  what  is  known  as  '  better 
memories.'  I  think  that  all  men  who  have  been 
long  married  can  testify  to  this,  so  that  women 
are  generally  the  best  living  records  of  personal 
experiences. 

Woman  is  by  nature  mysterious,  curious,  and 
inquisitive,  therefore  there  is  great  fitness  in  her 
being  so  familiar  with  the  occult  stores  of  memory, 
as  she  is  indeed  strangely  blended  with  all  that  is 
occult  and  puzzling  in  our  nature,  as  I  will  now 
proceed  to  examine. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

HYPNOTISM 

While  the  alleged  phenomena  of  Spiritualism 
may  be  explained  or  denied,  or  relegated  for  the 
present  to  the  realm  of  the  Doubtful — since  it 
must  be  admitted  that  all  which  has  been  done  bj 
the  Society  for  Psychical  Research  has  not  brought 
us  to  any  scientific  proof  of  the  existence  of  ghost? 
of  any  kind — it  cannot  be  denied  that  Hypnotism 
certainly  reveals  the  existence  of  marvellous 
faculties  in  Man,  with  concurrent  mysteries. 

Hypnotism  is  the  absolute  obedience  to  sugges- 
tion. It  may  be  exercised  by  one  mind  upon 
another,  or  even  by  the  mind  upon  Itself.  If  I 
can  put  any  person,  male  or  female,  into  what  is 
called  the  magnetic  sleep,  that  person  will  do 
whatever  I  command  or  suggest  him  or  her  to  do. 
At  least  one  in  three  of  all  men  or  women  are 
amenable  to  this  influence ;  the  now  really  ex- 
tensive literature  on  the  subject  proves  this. 

If  I  cast  any  person  into  a  sleep  or  cataleptic 
condition,  and  then  bid  him  or  her  remember  that 
during  to-morrow  he  or  she  shall  do  a  certain 
[  67  ]  5—2 


68  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

thing  at  a  certain  hour,  the  subject,  on  awaking, 
will  have  forgotten  it  all ;  but  on  the  next  day  the 
person  thus  '  suggested  '  will,  at  the  appointed 
time,  feel  an  irresistible  influence  to  execute  the 
deed  proposed.  Or  he  may  be  told  to  feel  cheer- 
ful, or  work  without  feeling  weary.  Or  he  may 
suggest  to  himself,  or  will,  the  same  things  before 
going  to  sleep.  In  most  cases  the  same  result  will 
be  obtained.     Probatum  est. 

This  is — a  little  too  easily — explained  as  being 
all  the  result  of  our  Imagination.  This  word  is 
habitually  used  very  erroneously.  When  most 
people  would  convey  the  idea  that  any  opinion 
advanced  by  another  is  all  a  mere  idle  fancy  or 
bosh — i.e.,  sound  or  nonsense — they  say,  '  That  is 
all  your  Imagination.'  But,  as  Imagination 
means  in  truth  simply  the  giving  form  to  an  Idea 
by  images — that  is,  in  fact,  expressing  it  more 
clearly — it  is  absurd  to  make  it  a  synonym  for 
nonsense. 

Without  Iraagi^nation  there  could  be  no  poetry, 
invention,  or  aesthetic  expression.  I  have,  I 
trust,  shown  that  the  aid  or  motive  force  for  such 
mental  action  is  probably  due  to  the  f emalej jjiul,' 
within  us.  It  is  not  per  se  imagination,  but  it 
supplies  from  memory  the  material,  and  in  its  way 
even  the  action  or  suggestion,  for  ideas  which 
masculine  reason  corrects  and  perfects.  In 
Woman  the  same  result  is  obtained  by  a  reversed 
process.     In  her  the  man  within  is  the  Mentor. 

Hypnotism  is  Imagination  realized.     The  sub- 


HYPNOTISM  69 

ject  is  made  to  imagine  something  which  is  sub- 
sequently brought  to  pass.  But  the  command, 
so  to  call  it,  passes  through  the  realm  of  the 
dream,  where  it  is  recorded  as  an  order  to  be  ful- 
filled. This  is  done  by  the  female  soul,  who  \ 
thinks  ,  while  ^^^^^W  All  that  we  do  while    ) 

asleep  is  effected  by  her.     In  woman  it  is  the    1 
masculine  inner  self  who  does  the  same.     There-    ^ 
fore  the  Influence  is  often  far  stronger,  more  ar- 
bitrary and  frequent  in  women  than  in  men, 
though  less  used. 

As  an  athlete,  when  he  leaps  a  ditch  or  per- 
forms any  great  feat  of  strength  or  activity, 
pauses  a  moment  before  making  the  final  effort,  so 
the  mind  seems  to  be  prepared  or  perfected  by 
sleep  for  aU  mental  determination.  It  is  the  still  or 
alembic  through  which  the  wine  must  pass  before 
it  is  spiritualized  or  turned  to  true  esprit.  Hence 
such  proverbs  as,  'Fortune  comes  to  us  while  sleep- 
ing,' '  Night  brings  counsel,'  and  '  I  will  sleep  on 
it,'  which  express  a  world-wide  belief  that  wisdom 
is  digested  by  slumber — to  which  I  may  add  : 
'  Vir  somnolentus  invenit  somnia ' — '  He  who  sleeps 
will  find  dreams' ;  '  Aner  hupnodes  eurSes  onera- 
ton ' — implying  that  during  sleep  we  get  ideas.* 

It  would  seem,  indeed,  as  if  Nature,  recognising 
the  saying  that  '  in  the  multitude  of  counsellors 
there  is  safety,'  or,  at  least,  that  '  two  heads  are 

*  From  Gregorius  Nazianzenus.  In  Italian  Chi  dorme 
sogna.  The  French  proverb,  Qui  dort  dine,  is  perhaps 
another  form  of  the  same. 


^o  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

better  than  one,'  had  so  arranged  it  that  a  proper 
judgment  on  any  subject  could  be  best  formed 
when  it  was  submitted,  not  only  to  the  reason  and 
logic  of  Man,  but  also  to  the  Imagination  and 
subtle  perception  of  Woman.  This  process  of 
handing  over  our  ideas  to  Sleep,  to  keep  them  for 
us  awhile,  is  like  forming  fancies  or  verses  which 
are  soon  forgotten  if  we  trust  to  memory,  but 
which,  when  written  down,  are  not  only  secured, 
but  suggest  improvements  of  themselves  when  we 
read  them  over  some  time  after. 

The  Dream  does  indeed  of  itself  very  often  give 
the  subject  of  a  thought,  or  something  entirely 
original — and  it  would  be  wonderful  if,  among  all 
the  odd  combinations  of  memories  which  it  makes, 
it  did  not — but  its  real  function  is  to  aid  the 
wisdom  of  the  waking  reason.  Given  a  naked 
beauty,  the  Dream,  or  our  feminine  inner  Self, 
dresses  her  up  for  society  ;  she  fairy-godmothers 
every  Cinderella.  Now,  this  does  not  fully  explain 
all  the  phenomena  of  Hypnotism,  but  it  casts 
great  light  on  its  nature,  and  reveals  a  law  that  as 
all  hibernating  animals  are  far  stronger,  owing  to 
their  rapid  recuperation,  for  their  very  long  naps, 
or  as  a  pedestrian  can  achieve  a  far  longer  journey 
in  the  same  time  by  dividing  it  into  two  or  more 
by  intervals  of  rest,  so  we,  by  sleeping  on  a 
determination,  can  carry  it  out  more  completely. 
This  resting  and  resuming  our  ideas,  or  the  trans- 
ferring them  through  another  medium  to  give 
them  strength,  is  analogous  to  so  much  in  Nature 


HYPNOTISM  71 

that  it  will  hardly  seem  to  be  a  mystery  to  anyone 
who  will  seriously  reflect  on  it. 

What  is  narrated  of  the  marvels  of  Hypnotism 
always  involves  something  done  which  the  Sub- 
ject could  execute  without  the  suggestion  of 
another,  if  he  or  she  had  the  will  to  do  it — that  is, 
the  mental  strength  and  Imagination.  These  are 
supplied  by  Faith — in  this  case  meaning  the  utter 
dependence  on  the  causer  and  governor  of  the 
sleep.  Just  so  in  Dreams,  we  are  utterly  and 
completely  at  the  disposal  of  the  Lady  of  the 
Realm  of  Visions,  who  often  in  Nightmares 
humiliates  us  utterly  as  a  punishment  for  late 
suppers. 

It  is  certainly  true  that  the  inner  Me,  or  Lady  of 
the  Manor  of  Cryptic  Thought,  as  Guardian  of 
the  latent  mysteries  of  the  mind  and  of  memory, 
is  well  acquainted  with  many  marvellous,  and  as 
yet  hidden,  faculties  in  us,  meant  to  be  developed 
in  the  By-and-By,  which  she  now  and  then  reveals 
prematurely.  She  was  conquered  in  the  first 
battle  for  supremacy  with  Man,  and  put  away,  or 
relegated,  to  the  obscure  yet  responsible  position 
of  taking  care  of  the  family  treasures,  as  befell 
Bertha  in  the  French  romance  of  Le  Lutin  du 
Chateau,"^ 

For,  as  the  sternest  and  least  imaginative 
Science  is  now  inclining  to  believe  or  explain  the 
most  hopeless  cases  of  mental  telepathy,  seeing 

*  A  work  by  myself,  as  yet  unpublished — more's  the  pity 
for  the  good  fellows  who  like  merry  books  ! 


72  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

that  they  are  really  not  more  incredible  than  X 
rays  and  wireless  telegraphy,  so  do  we  begin  to 
discover  that  all  our  mental  capacities  are  not  as 
yet  known  or  developed,  and,  as  the  street-pedlar 
in  America  was  wont  to  say  of  his  razors,  '  There 
are  still  a  few  more  left  where  that  came  from.' 
Dr.  R.  Osgood  Mason,  in  his  book  on  '  Tele- 
pathy and  the  Subliminal  Self,'  has  accumulated, 
as  Hood  says,  *  wonders  upon  wonders '  enough 
to  satisfy  the  saint  who  longed  for  legends  even 
more  incredible  than  any  recorded  in  '  The 
Golden  Legend '  to  '  try  his  faith.'  And  Thomas 
Aquinas  believed  exultingly  in  whatever  was 
narrated  of  miracles,  because  it  was  impossible : 
Credo  quia  impossihile  est.  But  Science  is  now 
beginning  to  lend  a  willing  ear  to  beUeve  in  Any- 
thing, because  it  is  also  beginning  to  realize  its 
own  illimitable  power.  I  say  realize — not  merely 
conjecture.  Thus,  King  Heidrek,  in  the  old 
Norse  saga,  thought  he  could  guess  any  riddle,  but 
when  measured  with  Odin  he  found  out  there  was 
One  who  was  sure  of  it.  King  Heidrek  repre- 
sents the  Science  of  the  last  generation,  and  Odin 
that  of  the  present. 

All  of  these  marvels  are  in  a  vague  way  known 
to  the  Inner  Self,  and  she  plays  with  them  as  a 
child  brought  up  in  a  jeweller's  shop  may  play 
with  diamonds.  I  believe  that  the  first  great 
diamond  found  in  South  Africa  was  really  dis- 
covered as  a  child's  toy.  So  did  I  once  discover 
that  an  image  of  Buddha,  found  fourteen  feet 


HYPNOTISM  73 

under  ground  in  company  with  old  Roman  medals, 
was  given  by  the  finder  to  his  young  ones  to  serve 
as  a  doll.  Then  Reason,  or  the  Outer  Mind,  finds 
it  or  the  latent  power  in  the  hands  of  the  child, 
and  recognises  its  value. 

So,  as  the  flower  precedes  the  fruit.  Imagination 
and  Poetry  precede  Reason,  and  Woman  Man. 
Yet  the  same  early  influence  ever  reappears  in  the 
perfected  work,  even  as  Paracelsus  observes  that 
the  Leaf,  which  is  the  hand  of  the  tree,  by  mys- 
terious palmistry  ever  shows  in  its  ribs  the  whole 
trunk  and  branches  of  the  perfected  growth. 
This  resemblance  is  indeed  remarkable  in  such 
trees  as  the  lime  or  linden  and  maple.  But,  as  the 
pedestal  in  Romanesque  architecture  often  re- 
sembles the  capital,  so  the  root  or  base  is  like  this 
in  our  souls,  that  it  precedes  the  flower,  even  so 
Woman  as  the  mother  is  the  beginning  of  life.* 

Creation  of  existences,  the  beginning  of  organ- 
isms or  of  lives,  is  the  casual  or  chance  concur- 
rence of  certain  molecules  which  attract  or  repel 
other  molecules  and  forces  according  to  their 
kinds.     And  as  there  is  attraction  and  repulsion, 

*  I  think  there  can  be  small  doubt  that  Goethe,  who  was 
in  his  youth  so  familiar  with  so  much  occult  literature,  took 
his  theory  of  all  growth  from  the  leaf,  as  if  it  were  the  proto- 
type, from  this  fancy  of  the  earlier  speculator.  The  leaf  of 
Goethe  is  now  modified  to  the  cell.  It  is  remarkable  that 
while  Paracelsus  regarded  a  leaf  as  a  hand,  it  is  in  Gypsy, 
as  in  Hindu,  typical  of  the  foot,  pa/,  hence  patrin,  leaves, 
often  laid  to  make  an  indication  of  journeying ;  in  English 
Romany, /<a!/^;'««,  2^  foot-track — i.e.^  leaf. 


74  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

so  are  there  limitation  and  expansion,  as  there  is 
birth,  bloom,  and  death  ;  else  the  plant  would  go 
on  growing  ad  infinitum.  But  reflection  on,  and 
the  study  of,  the  conditions  of  development,  as 
seen  in  Nature,  soon  render  the  idea  intelligible. 
And  so  matter,  when  really  understood  as  of  one 
substance  with  mind,  is  understood  as  'containing 
within  Itself  the  germ  potency  and  promise  of 
Nature  in  all  her  subsequent  developments — of 
the  vast  universe  of  suns  and  systems,  planets  and 
satellites,  and  of  every  form  of  life,  sensation,  and 
intelligence  which  in  due  process  of  evolution  has 
appeared  upon  their  surfaces.'*  Yet  all  of  this 
development  had  for  its  beginning  sporadic  or 
here-and-there  chance  groupings  of  molecules, 
which  Nature,  as  they  seemed  fit  for  something, 
aided  into  higher  form. 

It  is  precisely  in  the  same  manner  that  the 
images  in  our  memory  are  casually  thrown  by  the 
Lady  of  the  Dream  into  odd  and  fanciful  combina- 
tions, from  which  Reason  or  Judgment  selects  and 
finishes  into  ideas.  When  our  reflecting  power 
says  to  a  chance  dream  or  fleeting  group  of  fancies, 
'  Stop  there !'  it  makes  a  Beginning,  and  is 
obeyed.  It  must  be  obeyed.  This  casts  much 
light  on  Hypnotism  and  all  the  other  occult 
powers  of  the  mind.  The  Will  of  the  suggester 
having  once  begun  to  act  upon  the  images  fur- 
nished during  a  reverie  or  an  abstraction  of  the 
mind,  or  brain-study — as  when  composing  a  poem 
*  R.  Osgood  Mason  :  *  Telepathy  and  the  Subliminal  Self.* 


HYPNOTISM  75 

— very  soon  gets  more  or  less  complete  command 
of  them.  In  precisely  the  same  manner  in  hyp- 
notism the  operator  begins  by  inducing  sleep,  and 
from  that  to  compelling  the  Inner  Self  to  act  on, 
or  combine  and  create,  conceptions.  Now,  as 
Sight,  which  seems  to  us  to  be  a  real  thing  per  se, 
is  only  the  effect  of  the  vibrations  of  ether  in  the 
optic  nerve,  so  are  the  suggestions  in  hypnotism, 
which  seem,  however,  to  be  as  real  as  anything  in 
hfe. 

I  have  observed  that  all  writers  on  Woman, 
especially  the  French,  lay  great  stress  on  the  fact 
that  she  is  in  herself  mysterious,  inexplicable,  and 
'  weird '  (which  really  means  '  strangely  fore- 
boding,' or  intimating  in  a  wonderful  way  what 
is  to  come).  This,  as  I  have  said,  is  accurately 
carried  out  by  the  manner  in  which  the  female 
inner  self  acts.  This  mystery  is  based  on  Uncer- 
tainty, or  less  definite  perceptions  and  grasp  than 
in  Man.  There  is  always  something  Weird,  in  the 
true  sense,  in  mere  Chance.  Hence  the  Dream, 
like  dice  and  cards,  has  always  been  regarded  as 
a  source  of  Divination. 

The  phenomena  of  Hypnotism,  or  any  other 
branch  of  the  occult,  are,  like  the  beginnings  in 
morphology,  subject  to  Accretion.  No  one  can 
tell  into  what  they  may  not  be  developed  ;  nor 
is  there  any  limit  to  the  possible  command  over 
matter  which  the  human  Will  may  attain. 

It  has  been  said  in  a  poem  that  '  Every  woman 
is  at  heart  a  witch ' ;  it  might  be  said  even  more' 


76  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

truly  that  she  is  a  devotee.  I  am  often  incHned  to 
think  that  here  in  Italy,  with  the  exception  of  a 
few  old  men  who  are  beginning  to  take  in  sail  as 
their  battered  ships  draw  near  port,  there  are  no 
really  religious  folk,  save  the  women  ;  for  true  it 
is,  and  something  over,  that  every  Zoccolante  or 
sandalled  Capucin  beggar  who  goes  about  solicit- 
ing cabbages  or  '  bread,  butter,  sausage,  cheese, 
coffee,  wine,  rice,  or  raisins ' — all  being  fish  into 
his  net — would  oft  and  again  return  with  empty 
panniers  to  his  convent  were  it  not  for  the  women. 
They  form  the  vast  majority,  and  often  well-nigh 
the  totality,  of  worshippers  in  the  churches — the 
which,  considering  the  manner  in  which  the  Sex 
is  abused  by  almost  all  Roman  Catholic  writers — 
and  it  is  awful  in  real  monkish  literature — is  the 
best  proof  possible  of  their  magnanimity  and 
Christianity.  Now,  as  Religion  is  the  combina- 
tion of  a  sense  of  dependence  on  a  master,  allied 
to  a  sense  of  mystery,  its  relation  to  Hypnotism, 
which  is  the  same  thing,  in  fact,  is  apparent. 

Now,  if  the  reader,  bearing  well  in  mind  all  that 
I  have  written,  will  read  as  extensively  as  he 
pleases  all  the  works  on  Animal  Magnetism, 
Clairvoyance,  Telepathy,  Mind-Reading,  and  the 
like,  he  cannot  fail  to  admit  that  in  it  all  the 
Female  Mind  is  the  predominating  influence — the 
mysterious  fairy  who  lurks  as  a  dryad  in  the 
foliage  of  the  oak  ;  the  naiad  who  gives  us  flitting 
glimpses  of  her  beauty  in  the  falling  foam  of  the 
fountain ;  the  witch  who,  flying  fast  and  far  in 


HYPNOTISM  77 

darkness  to  the  Sabbat,  is  seen  by  the  flashing 
Hghtning  ;  for,  in  very  fact,  works  on  Mechanics 
and  PoUtical  Economy  will  ever  be  masculine 
though  written  by  women,  and  those  on  Poetry 
and  Occulta  and  Mysticism  feminine,  whoever 
their  authors  may  be. 

Now,  if  we  critically  and  justly  balance  and  con- 
sider all  that  I  have  written,  it  will  appear  that, 
as  the  Woman  within  supplies  the  gold  which 
Man  coins,  there  is  small  difference  indeed  as  to 
which  is  the  Superior  Sex  in  the  transaction — 
which  ye  may  all  reason  out  everyone  his  or  her 
own  way,  drawing  everyone  his  or  her  own  con- 
clusions. 


CHAPTER  IX 

SENSIVITY   AND   LOVE 

*  L'  huomo  e  dotato  dalla  Natura  di  due  viste,  V  una  caporale 
che  communemente  si  chi'ama  Vzsfa;  laqual  da  noi  sopra  gli 
altri  sensi  e  amata,  V  altra  incorporeale,  che  e  quella  potentia 
deir  Anima,  per  la  quale  habbiamo  conuenienza  con  gli 
Angeli  et  in  Corrispondenza  di  queste  due  viste,  essendo  dui 
ogetti  visibile  et  per  consequenza  due  bellezze  V  una  corporale, 
et  sensibile,  V  altra  tntelligibile  ed  ideale,  dimonstra  Amore 
come  la  Teorico  versi  attorno  la  bellezze  ideale,  h  la  Prattica 
si  giri  circa  la  beltk  sensibile,  e  corporale.' — Casoni  da 
Serravale^  i59i« 

The  reader  who  has  been  impressed  by  the  beauty 
and  ingenuity  of  Darwin's  theory  of  Sexual  Selec- 
tion, and  how  '  the  females  of  all  kinds  have  by 
such  selection  added  to  their  attractiveness,'  has 
doubtless  now  and  then  wondered  what  the  in- 
fluence was  which  attracted  the  sexes  one  to 
another,  quite  separately  from  all  merely  sexual 
affinity.  For  that  the  latter  alone,  without  what 
may  properly  be  called  aesthetic  aid  or  percep- 
tions of  beauty,  would  have  contributed  nothing 
to  improvement  is  evident.  What,  then,  is  this 
aesthetic  attraction  ?  Why  do  creatures  of  many 
kinds  behold  with  pleasure  vivid  colours  ?  Why 
[  78  ] 


SENSIVITY  AND  LOVE  79 

will  ducks  sit  for  hours  contemplating  with 
special  pleasure  beds  of  purple  flowers  ?  Why, 
in  Italy,  as  was  noticed  by  a  Roman  poet  of  old, 
does  the  leader  of  a  string  of  cart-horses  take 
manifest  joy  in  the  cumbrous  trappings  or  rude 
ornaments  which  he  wears  ?  Why  do  all  common 
steeds  in  the  same  country  rejoice  in  red  blankets 
above  all  others  ?  Or  why,  in  fact,  do  we  see 
beauty  in  scenery,  in  women,  or  anything  ?  What 
is  the  explanation  of  this  attraction  for  certain 
characteristics  of  certain  phenomena  ?  What  is 
Beauty  ? 

I  conjecture  that  the  beginning  or  basis  of  this 
attraction  is  to  be  sought  in  a  very  subtle,  and  an 
unknown  (or  at  least  not  investigated),  force  in 
Nature,  which  may  be  called  Sensivity.  In  its 
lower  forms  it  appears  to  act,  so  to  speak,  as  an 
intermediary  with  electric  polarity,  or  attrac- 
tion. It  begins  to  show  itself  in  the  lowest  or- 
ganisms. Every  creature,  as  soon  as  it  acquires 
individual  life,  displays  attraction  towards,  or 
repulsion  from,'  other  objects.  It  probably  ex- 
tends even  into  crystallization,  if  we  adopt 
Schron's  theory  that  there  is  no  distinction 
between  organic  and  inorganic  life.  Beginning, 
therefore,  as  mere  attraction  and  repulsion,  or 
as  an  element  therein,  Sensivity  develops  itself 
more  or  less  in  every  grouping  of  molecules  which 
attracts  to  itself  or  repels  certain  elements  (or 
assemblages  of  atoms  obeying  given  laws),  or 
certain  laws.     It  is  in  its  beginning  a  force  even 


8o  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

as  electricity,  galvanism,  gravity,  ether,  and  sub- 
ether  are  forces ;  as  it  rises,  so  to  speak,  in  higher 
organisms  it  becomes  hke  vitality  or  the  so-called 
vital  electricity.  And  as  it  is  developed,  or  acts 
in  new  spheres,  it  manifests  attraction  or  repul- 
sion, through  our  sight  as  being  attracted  by 
certain  colours.  Sensivity  as  it  thus  manifests 
itself  becomes  even  more  and  more  like  Thought, 
and  it  may  be  more  or  less  so  regarded  ;  but  as 
all  Intellect  may  be  traced  downwards  to  mere 
emotion  and  association,  instinct  and  sensation, 
so  Sensivity  may  be  traced  upward  from  inor- 
ganic creation,  through  its  association  with  other 
powers  or  forces,  into  the  action  of  the  brain. 

It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  almost  from  the  first, 
or  so  far  as  we  can  trace  it,  Sensivity  seems  to 
have  in  it,  or  to  be  in  some  mysterious  way  allied 
to.  Thought — at  least,  it  will  suggest  to  most 
minds  a  subject  or  consciousness.  Yet  no  such 
thought  ever  disturbs  the  minds  of  those  who  see 
a  mimosa  or  sensitive-plant  close  its  leaves  when 
touched,  since  they  attribute  it  all  to  a  nervous 
mechanical  organization.  If  we  remember  that 
there  are  all  over  our  body  ganglions  or  imperfect 
brains,  which  exercise  unconscious  cerebration, 
or  how,  when  the  head  of  a  tortoise  is  cut  off,  the 
body  still  continues  to  function  or  crawl,  while 
the  head  exhibits  the  possession  of  as  much  in- 
telligence as  it  ever  had — i.e.,  by  vindictive 
snapping  and  biting — we  can  easily  understand 
what  Sensivity  may  be  like  in  its  Lower  stages. 


SENSIVITY  AND  LOVE  8i 

All  forces  as  they  combine,  acting  and  reacting 
in  matter,  tend  to  produce  higher  organisms, 
higher  and  more  elaborate  powers,  more  subtly 
varied,  or,  in  fact,  new  capacities.  Thus,  Sen- 
sivity,  rising  from  a  purely  material  state  of  at- 
traction and  repulsion,  and  the  point  where 
Organism  develops  into  perceptible  life,  rises  to 
Intellect.  Now  Life,  or  the  joint  action  of  forces 
making  a  force,  was  at  first,  of  course,  blindly 
perceptive  in  the  lowest  grade,  as  where  atoms 
or  molecules  were  formed,  when  the  perception 
consisted  of  simply  obeying  the  laws  of  polarity, 
when,  indeed,  all  was  blind,  and  acting  according 
to  the  primary  force — beyond  which  there  is  no 
passing. 

Even  as  red  or  any  other  colour  impresses  Sen- 
sivity,  in  accordance  with  certain  laws  of  sensa- 
tion, with  pleasure — which  is  also  a  condition 
determined  in  and  by  it — so  the  harmony  of 
colours,  form,  scents,  sounds,  and  all  things  in 
Nature  are  very  rapidly  associated  and  assimi- 
lated by  it.  If  we  sometimes  find  a  charm  in 
what  is  manifestly  imperfect,  or  what  departs 
from  the  ideal  of  Nature,  it  is  because  our  Sen- 
sivity  has,  here  and  there,  made  Association  of 
the  Agreeable  to  the  Senses  or  the  Fancy  or 
Imagination  with  certain  Things  which  are  not 
beautiful;  and  this  is,  indeed,  going  on  all  the 
time,  as  Art  and  popular  Taste  bear  witness.  For 
Sensivity  has  grown  with  our  growth,  and 
strengthened  with  our  strength,   and  is  not  a 

6 


82  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

perfect  Mentor,  but  only  a  quick  perceiver  of 
certain  attractions,  repulsions,  and  harmonies. 

Sensivity  is  the  peculiar  force  in  us  which  by 
attraction  to  the  most  successful — that  is,  the 
most  harmonious — experiments  of  Nature,  aids 
and  determines  their  success.  It  is  a  marvellous 
guide  in  all  selection  and  affinity  ;  but  for  it  natural 
selection  and  human  culture  would  not  be ;  or  else, 
like  the  boy  who  speculated  who  he  would  have 
been  if  he  had  had  another  father,  it  would  have 
taken  another  path  and  been  Something  Else. 

Now,  as  Light  is  not  a  thing  by  itself,  but  only 
the  impression  made  by  so  many  vibrations  of 
ether  on  the  sensorium,  so  is  the  Beautiful  only  a 
sensation  whose  Ultimate  is  in  us,  not  in  Itself. 
For  a  very  slight  alteration  in  our  Receptivity 
would  have  made  the  Madonnas  of  Raphael  as 
repulsive  as  so  many  scarecrows,  or  devils,  or 
any  other  anti-ideals. 

Therefore,  it  follows  that  the  sensation  of  the 
Beautiful  is,  firstly — and  the  French  writers  of  the 
last  century  agreed  this  was  the  sole  cause — 
simply  Agreeable  Impression,  as  determined  by 
the  effects  of  colours,  scents,  and  the  like  on 
our  receptivity.  Here,  however,  the  men  who 
manufactured  Thought  for  our  grandfathers,  or 
great-grandsires,  stopped.  If  the  Beautiful  was 
agreeable,  they  argued,  whatever  is  Agreeable 
must  be  Beautiful.  John  is  a  thief,  therefore 
every  thief  is  (or  ought  to  be)  called  John. 

But  they  left  out  of  sight  the  great  truth  that 


SENSIVITY  AND  LOVE  83 

Nature,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  as  an  Over- 
ruling Mind,  or  as  a  blind  correlation  of  forces, 
follows  an  Ideal,  and  with  or  without  Teleology  or 
intent  to  an  end,  advances  in  harmonious  adjust- 
ment of  force  and  matter.  This  in  its  manifesta- 
tions is  Beauty,  and  it  is  far  beyond  the  mere 
impression  of  Agreeableness  on  our  senses,  which 
are  complexed  with  many  jarring  phenomena  or 
impressions.  But  our  Sensivity,  which  was  in  its 
beginning  only  a  blind  force,  as  it  develops, 
takes  note  of  this  harmony,  and  combines  it  with 
the  Agreeable. 

The  sense  of  correct  shape  and  of  proportions 
is  closely  allied  to  the  perception  and  enjoyment 
of  light,  colours,  and  other  phenomena  which 
reduce  themselves  in  their  origin  to  the  law  of 
attraction  and  repulsion.  Colour  and  shade 
beget  Outline  arid^  Form,  and  Sensivity  as  it 
becomes  subjective  notes  this  more  and  more, 
just  as  our  sight  takes  in  more  and  more  the  con- 
ditions of  light  and  darkness.  For  this  latter 
condition  varies  immensely  between  the  cogni- 
tion of  a  babe  and  a  grown  person. 

All  correlations,  or  unities  of  force,  by  adjust- 
ment, tend  to  higher  conditions,  and  to  intellect. 
And  throughout  all  Sensivity  acts  as  a  guide  or 
influence.  It  is  in  a  sense  the  maker  of  mind.  It 
selects  impressions.  In  its  growth  we  can  trace 
how  Man,  step  by  step,  rose  to  thinking,  how  from 
mere  sensation  he  advanced  to  hereditary  instincts. 
Few  are  aware    of    how  much  of  our  present 

6—2 


84  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

thought  is  really  nothing  more  than  this,  and 
only  a  slight  advance  on  the  intelligence  of  the 
bee  and  the  ant. 

As  it  is  impossible  to  select  any  point  in  the 
chain  of  being  from  the  oldest  mineral  up  to  man, 
and  say  :  '  Here  life  begins,'  so  is  there  no  place 
where  Intellect  or  intelligence  is  not ;  for  though 
it  fade  gradually  from  Genius  to  Instinct,  and 
from  Instinct  to  mere  Sensation,  or  till  the  latter 
is  lost  in  mere  force  and  its  primary  action  on 
matter,  still  the  germ  of  Mind  is  always  there, 
capable  of  infinite  increase  and  growth.  Sen- 
sivity  is  the  beginning  of  mind  in  life.  As  Per- 
ception, it  selects  colours  and  accords  as  har- 
monies in  Nature  ;  it  comprehends  by  the  same 
law  pleasure  and  pain,  by  which  our  nervous 
system  is  organized. 

It  is  well  known  to  many,  or  recognised,  that 
Love  or  the  mutual  attraction  between  the  sexes 
in  humanity  is  two-fold,  the  one  being  simply 
sexual,  and  the  other  of  an  altogether  different 
nafure.  This  latter  very  often  assumes  the  in- 
tensity of  a  gassion.  It  may  be  found  in  mere 
children  in  whom  no  trace  of  sexual  attraction  has 
been  developed.  It  is  in  a  boy  felt  indifferently 
for  his  young  male  or  female  friends.  Very  few 
writers — Thackeray  is  among  the  exceptions — 
have  observed  that  in  children  and  sometimes 
in  those  of  older  growth  it  often  assumes  all  the 
strength  of  feeling  which  ordinary  love  attains 
in  many  grown  people,  especially  if  we  make 


SENSIVITY  AND  LOVE  85 

allowance  for  the  animal  nature.  Those  who 
observe  its  action  easily  pass  it  over  or  explain 
it  as  Friendship,  Affection,  or  Liking,  just  as  they 
explain  most  mental  phenomena  as  '  all  Imagina- 
tion,' which,  as  Dickens  observes,  is  '  explanatory, 
but  not  satisfactory.' 

Plato  had  been  struck  by  it,  hence  the  term 
Platonic  Love,  which  is  generally  regarded  as  the 
mere  first  attraction  or  introduction  to  sexual 
desire,  so  that,  as  I  wrote  long  ago,  '  That  love 
which  is  known  as  the  Platonic,  is,  like  most 
tonics,  very  stimulating,  and  shows  that  what 
begins  in  play  is  apt  to  end  in  earnest.'  But  it  is 
nevertheless  true  that  there  often  exists  in  man 
an  intense  attraction  to  others,  apart  from  all 
passion.  It  is  the  action  of  Sensivity  making  us 
perceive  not  only  beauty,  but  by  subtle  associa- 
tion, and  the  power  of  awaking  agreeable  memo- 
ries within  us,  attaching  us  to  a  certain  person. 
That  we  are  thus  attracted  by  an  unconscious 
Grouping  of  pleasing  appearances  and  fascinating 
memories  (or,  it  may  be,  their  mere  after-impres- 
sions) explains  in  a  great  measure  why  it  is  that 
we  so  generally  concentrate  our  love  on  one 
person,  and  prefer  the  Selected  perhaps  above 
all  others  on  earth.  That  is  as  regards  Selection, 
for  when  a  man  begins  to  devote  Attention 
and  Perseverance  to  any  pursuit,  as  I  have 
shown  in  my  book  on  the  Will,  he  soon  begins 
to  exclude  or  cast  aside  all  other  attractions. 
Wherein,  indeed,  we  have  the  Law  of  Growth 


86  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

exemplified  to  perfection,  since  every  organism, 
to  succeed,  must  follow  its  peculiar  and  limited 
conditions,  obeying  the  impulse  of  its  own  force, 
attracting  its  own  kind  of  molecules,  and  reject- 
ing all  others.  So  we  may  say  in  very  truth  that 
love  for  the  selected  one,  or,  at  least,  its  cause 
and  law,  may  be  found  in  all  development,  even 
from  the  crystal  upwards  and  onwards. 

It  would  seem  as  if  this  Platonic  love  or 
.Esthetic  attraction  existed  in  a  great  measure 
:n  the  inner  mind  of  man,  and,  per  contra,  in  the 
male  in  woman,  because  it  is  generally  of  an 
obscure  mysterious  nature,  adventuring  but  little 
forward  into  open  daily  life,  and  therefore  ex- 
pected to  lurk  in  the  occult  chambers  of  the  brain, 
among  long-buried  memories  awaiting  the  call 
of  the  Enchantress  to  awaken  them  again  to  life 
at  the  bidding  of  some  master  Odin.  It  is  true 
enough  that  the  Outer  Self  or  Reason  or  Waking 
Judgment  receives  aesthetic  impressions  from  the 
objective,  or  Nature,  which  would  indicate  that 
our  material  to  love,  or  be  attracted  to,  is  not 
from  within.  But  the  Inner  soul,  especially  as 
the  Feminine  in  Man,  appears  to  have  beyond  all 
question  such  a  strange  and  capricious — ^if  light 
and  fanciful — love  for  beauty  and  raystery,  that  I 
am  much  inclined  to  regard  Sensivity,  if  not  one 
with  her,  at  least  as  a  sister  living  in  her  house. 

Therefore,  it  seems  to  me  that  in  this  matter  of 
Love,  the  Inner  Intellect  may  have  more  influ- 
ence than  would  at  first  sight  appear.    For  the 


SENSIVITY  AND  LOVE  87 

aesthetic  attraction,  in  all  save  mere  human  brutes, 
always  precedes  the  sexual,  more  or  less,  and  as 
it  is  eminently  mysterious  while  beautiful,  charm- 
ing we  scarce  know  why,  enchanting  we  know 
not  how,  it  would  seem  as  if  in  truth  it  belonged 
to  the  marvellous  fairyland  which  is  hidden  in  all 
of  us,  and  in  which  all  that  we  '  do  not  understand  ' 
in  the  game  of  life  has  its  home. 

A  large  and  very  attractive  volume  might  be 
written  on  the  subject  of  Latent  Mental  Associa- 
tions, showing  how,  without  revealing  themselves 
to  Perceptive  Consciousness,  innumerable  images 
steal  into  memory,  to  be  awakened  with  vivid 
results  of  Impression  or  Emotion  in  our  Waking 
Thoughts.  So  we  see  a  beautiful  face  or  person 
who  in  some  mysterious  way — perhaps  we  do 
not  remember  or  trace  the  connection — recalls  or 
suggests  something  which  is  allied  to  the  charm- 
ing in  our  past,  where  or  when  we  know  not — but 
the  spell  is  there,  and  if  other  charms  come,  per- 
chance associated  with  it,  then  We  are  lost  or  won. 

*  Thou  art  gathered  in  a  cloud, 
Thou  art  wrapt  as  in  a  shroud, 
And  for  ever  thou  must  dwell 
In  the  spirit  of  the  spell.* 

It  is  curious  indeed  to  observe  how  the  falling- 
in-love  and  its  progress  is  again  like  the  Law  of 
Growth — that  is  to  say,  accretive  and  guided  by 
forces  which  conduce  to  form  and  end — that  is, 
when  the  beginning  succeeds. 

I  am  the  more  inclined  to  regard  the  beginning 


88  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

of  all  love  as  due  to  the  influence  of  the  inner  self, 
from  a  very  strange  phenomenon  which  is  quite 
peculiar  to  the  Dream,  and  which  it  lends  to  or 
blends  with  mysterious  Association.  It  is  well 
known  that  in  dreaming  we  often  confuse  pheno- 
mena or  thoughts  to  such  a  mad  extent  that  (as 
has  often  happened  to  me)  we  may  seem  to  be 
reading  a  story  from  a  book,  and  acting  it  at  the 
same  time.  Or  we  may  meet  with  two  people  as 
one,  or  smelling  a  rose  in  the  sight  thereof.  Fol- 
lowing this  idea,  Wordsworth  wrote  the  celebrated 
passage  which  has  so  greatly  puzzled  several 
worthy  critics  of  Philistia  : 

*  The  Stars  of  midnight  shall  be  dear 
To  her,  and  she  shall  lean  her  ear 

In  many  a  secret  place  ; 
Where  rivulets  dance  their  wayward  round, 
And  Beauty  born  of  murmuring  sound 

Shall  pass  into  her  face.' 

Precisely  the  same  idea  had  occurred  long 
before  to  a  quaint  Italian  writer,  Signor  Guido 
Casoni  da  Serravale,  who,  in  a  book  entitled 
Magia  d^  Amove  (a.d.  1591),  speaking  of  certain 
ladies,  mentions  the  celestial  music  born  of  the 
harmony  of  their  beautiful  faces.  Yea,  in  the 
same  sentence  he  speaks  of  it  also  as  being  food 
for  the  ear,  wherein  he  outsteps  the  English  poet.* 

*  *  Mentre  contemplo  nobilissimo  hospite,  come  porgendo 
quelle  Gentildonne  cibo  a  1'  orecchio  con  la  soave  armonia 
di  quegli  instremente,  prestino  k  gli  occhi  miei  caro  alimento 
con  la  celeste  armonia  nata  dalla  conformity  de  lor  bellissimi 
volti.' — Delia  Magia  d'Amore^  p.  21. 


SENSIVITY  AND  LOVE  89 

When  the  Dream  commits  these  contradictory 
extravagances,  she  seems  to  take  great  pains  to 
conceal  them  from  Waking  Common-Sense,  and 
hurries  them  out  of  sight  as  our  eyes  open,  as  if 
ashamed  of  them,  as  Eve  in  the  story  was  said  to 
have  trundled  her  unkempt  and  rougher  children 
out  of  sight  when  she  saw  the  Lord  coming.  And 
if  they  are  once  lost  for  a  second,  they  are  gone 
for  ever,  unless  you  resolutely  seize  them  to  keep 
the  instant  you  are  out  of  the  vision.  However 
this  may  be,  when  we  see  a  lovely  face.  Associa- 
tion or  the  Dream-lady  or  Gentleman  do  most 
assuredly  suggest  at  times  images  or  visions 
strangely  sweet  and  fair,  as  mysterious  and  mixed 
and  anomalous,  as  Signor  Wordsworth's — I  mean 
Mr.  Casoni's — compound  of  music  and  beauty. 
And  as  it  is  by  the  same  instinct  hidden  from  us 
— for  Love  indeed  is  all  awaking  dream — so  it 
comes  to  pass  that  we  often  do  not  know  why 
we  love.     And  truly  no  wonder ! 

For  here,  reader,  we  walk  in  what  always  was 
from  the  olden  golden  time  a  wonderland,  where 
youths  saw  visions  and  maidens  dreamed  dreams, 
and  it  will  be  an  Eli&n  realm  unto  those  of  every 
time. 


CHAPTER  X 

OF   ENTERING   INTO    HARMONY   AND   SYMPATHY 
WITH   THE   INNER   MIND 

I  PROPOSE  in  this  chapter  to  consider  the  degree 
to  which  the  female  soul  in  man,  or  the  converse 
in  woman,  may  be  developed,  improved,  and 
rendered,  so  to  speak,  personal.  As  previously 
suggested,  science  effectively  proves  that  all 
which  is  claimed  for  an  Inner  Me,  or  Subliminal 
Self,  or  an  '  Unconscious  Cerebration,'  a  Spirit  of 
Dreams,  a  Director  of  Hypnotic  capacity,  a 
Power  of  Divination,  a  Pythoness  inspiring 
Poetry,  and  Invention,  so  far  as  these  things 
exist  in  us  at  all,  may  be  referred  to  '  the  Woman 
within.' 

For  without  having  recourse  to  Providence  or 
Teleology,  it  is  true,  however  it  came  to  be,  that 
there  is  in  our  brain  a  marvellous  lumber-garret, 
wherein  are  stored  aU  kinds  of  mysterious  '  things,' 
such  as  untold  millions  of  old  memories  or  images, 
and  a  strange  power  of  calling  them  out,  and 
making  them  dance  in  Dreams — that  is  to  say, 
of  associating  them  in  light  fantastic  combina- 
[90] 


ENTERING  INTO  liARMONY  91 

tion,  just  as  a  scrape  or  two  from  a  violin-bow 
in  carelessly-fiddled  chords  will  make  sand  dance 
on  a  glass  pane. 

This  last  gift,  as  I  have  before  asserted,  is  very 
imperfectly  within  the  power  of  masculine  waking 
Reason,  which  knows  every  one  of  its  habitual 
Images  by  sight,  as  an  overseer  knows  his  work- 
men, and  just  what  to  do  with  them.     And  all 
works  of  Genius,  poetry,  or  of  original  invention    I 
depend  on  the  supply  from  the  Lady  within,  and   ^ 
her  making  them  dance.     And  when  the  Master      f 
sees   them   with   his   reason   and   judgment,   he     1 
selects  and  perfects  from  it  all,  a  work.    And  this     \ 
joint  action  of  the   Male  and   Female  mind  is     * 
Genius,  as  will  be  better  understood  and  more 
fully  believed  in,  in  days  to  come. 

All  of  this  belongs  to  the  realm  within  of 
Shadows,  and  it  is  indeed  Weird  in  the  true  sense 
of  the  word,  or  mysteriously  prophetic,  for  it  is 
simply  what  is  meant  for  future  use  in  the  history 
of  Humanity.  Therefore,  in  accordance  with  the 
old  saying,  '  as  the  land  so  the  lord,'  there  is 
placed  as  ruler  over  this  country  of  the  Occult, 
or  as  soul  to  a  body — and  very  naturally  and 
appropriately — a  mysterious  Sorceress,  a  just  so  . 
much  of  Woman  as  is  left  in  us,  who  having  a  >^ 
firm  lodgment  in  our  body,  with  its  correlative 
of  soul,  had  to  be  accommodated  somewhere,  and 
was  naturally  enough  sent  like  any  poor  relation 
up  to  the  garret  to  dwell,  where,  being  of  curious 
nocturnal   habits,    she   is   heard   knocking   and 


92  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

buzzing  about  at  night  in  Dreams.  This  con- 
ception of  the  Woman  as  one  in  charge  of  the 
occulta  is  in  exact  accordance  with  the  assertion 
to  be  found  in  the  last  novel  which  I  read,  in 
which  it  is  asserted  that  '  Women  are  multiform 
mysteries.'  I  believe  I  could  find  something 
equivalent  to  it  in  every  one  of  the  hundred 
romances  which  preceded  it. 

From  remotest  ages,  Man  has  believed  in  some 
kind  of  an  inward  oracle  or  monitor,  subjective 
oracle  or  guardian  spirit.  The  Rev.  J.  Wood 
Brown*  suggests  to  me  that  the  'Demon'  of 
Socrates  was  an  original  of  this  stamp.  '  For  it 
was  rumoured,'  says  Xenophon,  '  that  Socrates 
had  a  daimon  who  signified  things  unto  him.' 
That  the  Lady  within  us  is  an  absolutely  separ- 
ately thinking  '  mind '  is  proved  by  the  unde- 
niable fact  that  Dreams  often  exhibit  as  much 
constructive  power  or  thought  as  our  Waking  Self 
or  Reason  would  realize,  and  that  these  dreams 
are  completely  and  entirely  different — as  regards 
my  own,  at  least — from  anything  which  /  would 
ever  call  up.  It  is  not  merely  that  they  differ  in 
subject  and  association  from  all  that  I  would 
prefer — it  is  that  they  have  an  air  and  colour 
as  of  some  other  man's  associations  and  inner 
life,  a  something  repulsive  merely  by  Unfamili- 

*  Author  of  an  admirable  work  on  Michael  Scot,  the 
Averroist  and  reputed  Magician;  also  of  *  Santa  Maria 
Novella  of  Florence/  a  work  to  be  read  by  every  visitor  to 
the  City  of  Florence. 


ENTERING  INTO  HARMONY  93 

arity.  It  is  as  certainly  the  work  of  an  entirely 
different  mind  from  Mine  as  can  be. 

This  difference  was  observed  by  many,  and  as 
it  chiefly  showed  itself  in  Dreams,  it  is  not  wonder- 
ful that  thinkers  imagined  out  of  it  an  Intelligence 
of  the  occult  order.  I  will  here  give  a  very  inter- 
esting illustration  as  to  how  it  was  supposed  to 
speak  sometimes  to  Man.  I  have  in  my  posses- 
sion a  very  curious  old  Cabalistic  Manuscript, 
translated  from  the  Hebrew  into  Italian.  It  is 
mostly  filled  with  geomantical  columns  of 
numerals,  but  at  the  end  there  is  a  treatise  of 
twenty-five  pages,  which  purports  to  teach  all 
that  there  is  of  Magic.  And  it  amounts  to  this  : 
that  we  begin  with  a  long  course  of  fasting,  purifi- 
cation, and  prayer,  burning  of  certain  perfumes, 
and  using  ceremonies  like  those  set  forth  in  the 
Occulta  of  Cornelius  Agrippa  and  many  other 
dealers  in  burnt  groceries  and  apothecary  stuff, 
mixed  with  a  kind  of  evil-smelling  piety,  or 
adjurations  in  the  name  of  Adonai^-pJehovah^J^ 
Urieli^Samiel^J^and  all  kinds  of  El,  and  the  devil, 
the  end  of  it  being  that,  after  aU  this  Voodoing, 
you  wiU  hear  within  you  a  Voice. 

'  And  this  Voice  wiU  converse  with  you  and 
answer  aU  your  questions  as  to  all  Mysteries.' 
And  I  have  no  doubt  whatever  that,  after  such  a 
course  of  severe  mental  abstraction,  many  CabaUsts 
really  came  to  hear  it,  and  that  it  did  communi- 
cate to  them  many  really  amazing  mysteries,  or 
what  seemed  to  be  such.     For  there  are  wonders 


94  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

in  store  concealed  within,  and  unknown  to  us,  so 
that,  as  the  Fairy  said  to  Flaxius,  '  even  the  gods 
do  not  know  what  they  know.' 

This  Voice  is  the  Bathkol,  or  Daughter  of  the 
Voice,  a  tradition  dear  to  all  orthodox  Jews.  It 
is  said  that  when  there  were  no  more  prophets  in 
Israel,  the  Spirit  of  Prediction  still  lingered  in  an 
Echo  which  was  heard  ringing  in  an  Arch  of  the 
old  Temple  of  Jerusalem.  There  the  devotee 
made  his  suppUcation,  and  heard  in  the  resound- 
ing final  words  an  answer  g 

*  "  And  wilt  thou  grant  my  prayer,  thy  suppliant  bless  ?" 
To  him  the  Voice  replied  in  answer  "  Ess." ' 

This  was  Yes.  The  same  sorcery  exists  among 
the  peasants  not  far  from  where  I  am  writing. 
They  throw  a  pebble  into  a  well,  and  hear  in  its 
sound  an  answer.  So  do  many  men,  after  con- 
sidering a  thing,  come  to  a  conclusion  which  is  an 
echo  of  their  unconscious  foresight,  and  act  upon 
it.  It  is  really  all  the  same  thing,  or  the  Daughter 
of  the  Voice  re-echoing. 

Apropos  of  which  term  my  friend  the  Rev.  J. 
Wood  Brown  suggests  that  the  word  Daughter 
is  significant  of  the  female  element.  Else,  how 
came  it  that  the  Jews,  after  believing  that  all 
prophecy  came  from  the  tremendously  masculine 
Giver  Jehovah,  do  attribute  His  last  utterances 
to  the  Daughter  ? 

It  is  apparent  enough  from  the  facts  which  I 
have  adduced  that  this  independently  creative 


ENTERING  INTO  HARMONY  95 

mind  within  us  plays  an  active  part  in  all  which 
we  call  the  Imagination.  It  is  not  all  of  the 
Imagination,  but  no  work  of  the  Imagination 
could  be  perfected  without  it.  It  supplies  stage 
and  scenery,  actors  and  situations,  or  leading 
points ;  but  the  sober  working  Reason  of  Man 
writes  out  the  play,  and  acts  as  manager.  To 
those  behind  the  scenes  who  know  how  melo- 
dramas are  manufactured,  this  wiU  be  a  good 
illustration. 

Great  poets  like  Shakespeare,  Goethe,  Shelley, 
Keats,  and  Byron,  were  men  in  whom  the  female 
mind  within  had  been  more  than  usually  de- 
veloped. They  had  Great  imagination — that  is, 
unusual  wealth  of  imagery  from  memory  thrown 
wildly  together  as  in  waking  dreams,  and  with  it 
the  power  to  form  it  wisely.  Thousands  of  men 
have  this  latter  faculty,  very  few  the  former.  In 
fact,  all  the  smaller  poets  have  the  former  ability. 
How  many  there  are  like  Firmilian  in  Aytoun's 
comedy,  who  could  achieve  masterpieces  if  they 
could  only  get  the  Idea,  or  suggestion. 

It  is  the  Dream-lady  within  us  who  chiefly 
takes  note  of  the  Beautiful  or  Unusual.  Man, 
when  he  does  the  same,  according  to  Ruskin,  or 
other  instructors,  doubtless  accumulates  a  great 
deal  of  lore,  and  many  ideas,  but  the  result  of  it 
all  is  only  second-hand  works.  The  curse  of 
Literature  to-day  is  the  authors  who  make  books 
out  of  books,  and  the  literary  gentlemen  who 
write  about  one  another,  suggesting  the  people 


96  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

in  the  Scotch  village  who  all  subsisted  by  taking 
in  mutual  washing,  which  is  indeed  the  raison 
d*etre  of  the  highly  honourable  fraternity  of  Poli- 
ticians. 

It  may  be  superficially  objected  to  this  that  if, 
as  Geddes  remarks,  '  Man  is  more  original  than 
woman,  having  more  cerebral  variability,'  it  is 
absurd  to  say  that,  as  a  poet,  he  owes  all  his  best 
inspiration  to  her.  But  the  question  is  not  of 
Woman  as  a  whole,  nor  indeed  of  Man  by  himself, 
but  simply  of  the  supplying  Images  from  Memory, 
and  throwing  them  casually  together,  to  be  co- 
ordinated by  Reason  and  Reflection.  This  pro- 
cess constitutes  Imagination,  and  thus  far  it  has 
been  credited  solely  to  the  '  party  of  the  first  part,' 
or  the  Master.  The  Reason,  or  Judgment,  or  what 
is  generally  called  a  man's  Mind,  is  credited  with 
all  that  he  thinks  or  does,  but  just  as  it  was  found 
that  the  Ovum  (which  term  or  idea  was  all  in  all 
sufficient  for  the  old  physiologists,  per  se)  consists 
of  very  different  parts  combined,  which  have, 
however,  varied  their  function  by  union,  even  so 
it  is  true  that '  the  Imagination,'  which  plays  such 
a  role  in  popular  metaphysics,  has  its  divisions, 
and  those  indeed  '  marked  and  remarkable.' 

It  has  always  been  admitted  that  all  things  in 
Nature  vary  and  change  condition  according  to 
circumstances  and  surroundings.  Therefore,  the 
female  mind  in  man,  and  the  male  in  woman,  are 
not — and  could  hardly  be  expected  to  be — quite 
like  that  of  the  sexes  separate  in  person.     This  is 


ENTERING  INTO  HARMONY  97 

a  condition  to  be  borne  in  mind  as  explaining 
many  apparent  anomalies. 

We  now  come  to  the  consideration  whether 
this  separate  mind  within  us — which  unquestion- 
ably thinks  in  its  way  quite  independently  from 
ours,  yet  which  as  certainly  supplies  us  with 
material  for  thought — can  be  in  any  way  made 
personal,  or  realized,  or  brought  into  harmony 
with  the  waking  mind  or  common  sense.  For 
that  Something  of  the  kind  is  possible  is  suggested 
by  many  of  its  manifestations.  And  it  is  a  mar- 
vellous truth,  which  is  as  marvellously  borne  out 
by  curious  facts  hitherto  untested,  that  in  the 
greatest  poets  or  men  of  Imagination  the  Lady 
of  the  Brain  manifests  herself  to  such  a  degree 
that  it  would  hardly  astonish  us  to  know  that 
she  was  to  them  at  times  as  a  real,  or  at  least  an 
audible,  Presence,  or,  as  one  sang  : 

*  I  see  thee  not,  yet  oft  I  hear 
Thy  soft  voice  whispering  in  my  ear, 
Soft  as  the  silver  tones  which  fell 
From  the  sweet  harp  of  Israfel.' 

In  this  we  must  firstly  consider  that  hitherto 
the  Lady  of  the  hidden  life  has  never  been  recog- 
nised as  existing  at  all.  She  has  dwelt,  as  I  hav6 
before  said,  in  the  forgotten  garret  or  lumber- 
room  of  the  brain  amid  the  past,  listening  all  day 
in  the  dusty  sunshine  to  some  chance  bee  or  blue- 
bottle buzzing  or  humming  news  of  the  outer 
world,  aU  life  unknowing  and  to  life  unknown, 
till  night  came  and  she  sallied  forth,  and  then, 

7 


98  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

indeed,  one  might  find  with  the  gentleman  in  the 
Ballads  of  Bon  Gaultier,  '  That  the  larking  had 
begun.' 

But  though,  like  the  German  student  of  the 
Carceri  poem,  she  in  her  nightly  revelling  made 
such  a  Skanddl  that  all  the  town  heard  it — that 
is  to  say,  constructed  such  fearful  dreams  as  to 
convulse  the  Dreamer,  who  knew  very  well  that 
he  did  not  think  them — She  never  had  any  re- 
cognition as  a  separate  being. 

Now,  as  she  is  in  herself  half  the  Imagination, 
I  should  think  that  by  its  aid  she  might  be  brought 
as  a  personality  to  experience,  just  as  there  are, 
according  to  old  northern  witch-Lore,  means  of 
inducing  mermaids  or  water-nymphs  to  rise  to 
the  surface  of  the  sea  '  on  silent  summer  days, 
when  all  is  fair.'  Music  and  Song  were  chiefly 
used  to  lure  them  up  '  To  the  deadly  light  of 
day.' 

And,  by  the  way,  the  Jesuit  Kircher  gives  the 
very  lyric  employed  in  Sicily  to  entice  fish.*  But 
no  one  seems  to  have  ever  dreamed  that  this 
Angel  fish  could  be  caught,  or  this  Naiad  wooed 
and  won. 

Now,  if  a  man,  aided  by  Foresight — which  is 
the  deliberate  and  perfectly  completed  intelli- 
gence of  what  we  want — will  direct  his  Will  unto 
anything,   he   may   achieve   wonders.     The   be- 

*  The  reader  may  find  this  curious  incantation  in  '  Have 
You  a  Strong  Will  ?'  by  Charles  Godfrey  Leland.  London  : 
Philip  Wellby,  6,  Henrietta  Street,  W.C. 


ENTERING  INTO  HARMONY  99 

ginning  of  Will  to  achieve  great  results  should 
be  on  a  small  scale,  and  often  separated,  on  the 
great  oak  and  little  acorn  plan.  If  we,  before 
going  to  sleep,  think  very  comprehensively  over 
what  we  want,  so  as  to  fully  know  our  own  mind 
— which  many  clever  people  never  did  in  all  their 
lives — and  resolve  that  it  shall  come  to  pass,  it 
will  be  forgotten  in  our  slumbers,  and  perhaps 
next  morning  when  we  wake,  but  when  the  time 
comes  It  will  come  and  manifest  or  realize  itself 
according  to  Circumstances.  So,  thou  who 
doubtest — thou  who  sneerest  in  reviews  at  what 
thou  hast  never  tried — try  this,  and  if  thou  hast 
a  normal  mind^  and  square  horse,  or  even  pony 
or  donkey  sense,  thou  wilt  find  it  is  true,  even 
unto  thy  astonishment. 

If  the  Will  be  thus  awakened  many  times,  and 
the  process  deliberately  and  thoroughly  renewed, 
we  shall  come  to  a  state  of  perfect  and  undoubting 
self-confidence  and  calm  reliance  on  our  will,  or 
self,  which  is  beyond  question  the  greatest  mental 
blessing  which  Man  can  enjoy.  But  it  does  more 
than  this — it  enables  us  to  achieve  wonders  in 
that  realm  of  the  so-called  Occult,  and  to  work 
miracles  by  aid  of  Imagination,  which,  as  I  have 
shown,  is  not  a  merely  '  ideal,'  or  fanciful  idle 
faculty,  but  a  very  strong  power  when  properly 
applied. 

I  have  already  described  how,  according  to  a 
Cabalistic  manuscript,  the  Daughter  of  the  Voice 
may  be  heard  within  us  after  a  long  course  of 

7—2 


loo  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

magic  discipline.  This  is  nothing  more  nor  less 
than  bringing  the  will  by  a  somewhat  differently 
coloured  process  to  the  same  end.  '  You  may 
call  it  cognac  or  gin,  but  it  is  all  the  same  whisky, 
in  fact ';  so,  by  applying  the  mind  to  it,  especi- 
ally if  we  aid  the  process  by  prayer,  repeating 
this  unto  familiarity,  when  faith  results  we  shall 
have  the  same  reward  as  the  Cabalist,  but  in  a 
far  purer  and  clearer  form. 

For  if  the  Lady  within  can  devise  long  and 
sensible  discourses,  or  those  which  are  ingenious  ; 
if  I  can  talk  with  a  gypsy  in  a  dream  in  Romany 
— as  I  did  last  night,  April  4,  1902 — or  near  a 
song  in  sleep  and  remember  it  when  I  awake, 
finding  it  fit  to  publish,  it  is  not  going  far  afield, 
I  ween,  to  bring  her  to  a  Voice.  '  And  he  closed 
his  eyes,  and  called  Her,  and  rested  a  time  till  a 
Voice  which  was  not  a  Voice,  and  in  words  which 
were  not  heard  but  felt,  replied  :  "  Adsum,  here 
am  I,  Master  ;  what  wilt  thou  of  me  ?"  ' 

If  this  were  anything  great  or  difficult,  as  it  is 
to  a  degree  when  incantations,  long  starvation, 
with  total  abstinence  and  fumigations  are  re- 
quired, it  would  be  a  different  matter.  But  it 
is  simply  to  lead  into  a  new  form  of  expression 
the  Inner  Mind,  which  talks  often  and  long  and 
fluently  enough,  as  is  to  be  expected  of  a  woman, 
when  left  to  herself. 

The  Dream-Lady  has  wonderful  gifts.  I  have 
experienced  in  my  own  visions  aU  the  extremes 
of  dramatic  display,  the  wonders  of  art,  strange 


ENTERING  INTO  HARMONY  loi 

allegories,  often  so  subtle  that  it  was  not  till  long 
after,  when  awake,  that  I  seized  their  meaning, 
and  nightmares  or  situations  so  trying  and  terrible 
that  I  have  suffered  from  them  all  the  next  day, 
and  marvelled  in  my  suffering  that  such  extreme 
and  causeless  affliction  should  be  mine.  I  have 
never  in  waking  life  or  Nature  seen  anything  to 
compare  in  many  respects  with  what  I  have 
thus  beheld  in  Dreams,  and  after  this  the  merely 
materializing  the  process  a  very  little,  as  in  bring- 
ing the  voices  which  are  heard  in  dreams  into  the 
Reverie,  is  no  extravagant  fancy.  Indeed,  the 
'  how  to  do  it '  might  come  of  the  Dream  itself. 
We  are  fearfully  and  strangely  near  it,  just  as 
Chemistry  may  be  to  the  discovery  of  a  glass,  or 
other  medium,  which  does  not  refract  rays  of 
light.  It  seems  a  far  less  unlikely  thing  than 
the  X  rays  did,  or  Schron's  life  in  crystals,*  when 
this  glass  shall  be  discovered. 

'  Why,  then,'  replied  the  Angel,  '  you  will  be 
able  to  see  a  grain  of  corn  in  Jupiter,  or  all  that 
all  the  Stellar  folk  are  about,  which  will  be  very 
amusing,  I  warrant  you,  especially  in  Venus. 
But  that  is  nothing  as  compared  to  what  you 
will  hear  when  you  may  be  able  to  talk  with  the 
Queen  of  Dreams.' 

This  last  remark  suggests  another  idea.  If  by 
any  process  of  Will  and  mental  discipline  the 

*  It  is  not  unlikely  that,  by  following  the  path  indicated  by 
Prof.  Schron,  the  absolutely  non-refracting  medium  will  be 
discovered. 


102  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

Inner  mind  with  its  fancies  and  caprice  could  be 
brought  to  famiUarity  and  harmony  with  the 
Outer  Soul  or  Conscious  Reason,  though  unto 
ever  so  Httle  a  degree,  then  from  that  httle  we 
could  evolve  stupendous  results.  The  units 
could  be  multiplied  to  millions.  In  fact,  any 
individual  of  moderate  mental  capacity  gifted 
with  some  '  Imagination  '  for  a  beginning  might, 
if  he  could  awaken  the  Will  within,  develop  it  to 
'  miracle.' 

This  would  be  just  no  more  nor  less  than  setting 
a  new  kind  of  planchette  to  work,  the  difference 
being  that  we  should  hear  a  still  small  voice,  and 
one  which  '  you  cannot  hear,'  as  contrasted  with 
the  hands  which  beckon  us  away.  But  the  plan- 
chette is  a  clumsy  contrivance,  while  a  Voice  is 
subtle  and  soft,  and  may  glide  down  as  a  Thought 
into  our  deepest  dream.  Nay,  there  is  in  Dreams 
a  curious  talking  without  words  or  sound,  in  which, 
however,  every  word  is  mysteriously  expressed. 

Now,  if  there  be  men  who  have  dreams  in  a 
reverie  without  going  to  sleep,  or  while  actually 
awake,  with  Reason  quietly  watching  round,  and, 
what  is  more,  many  who  can  thus  bring  them  on 
at  will,  as  we  all  can,  it  is  clear  enough  that  the 
Voice  can  be  invoked,  and,  once  heard,  it  may  be 
called  again,  and  little  by  little  made  the  means 
of  realizing  all  that  Memory  holds  or  that  Imagina- 
tion can  desire. 

There  are  people,  old  or  young,  who,  whenever 
they  hear  an  air  played,  involuntarily  fit  words 


ENTERING  INTO  HARMONY  103 

to  it.  This  is  also  a  faculty  which  no  one  has 
ever  dreamed  of  developing,  yet  which  might  be 
cultivated  to  the  improvising  of  poetry,  as  indeed 
often  spontaneously  occurs  among  Italians. 

But  the  great  art  of  all  is  simply  to  think 
earnestly  and  often  that  there  is  really  within  us 
another  mind,  a  second  self,  which  has  never  been 
recognised  and  ever  neglected,  and  which,  as  a 
discouraged  and  depressed  younger  child,  hides 
herself,  as  one  who  has  been  mortified  and  de- 
feated is  wont  to  do.  By  this  repeated  thought, 
the  shy  fairy  will  become  familiar,  and  little  by 
little  a  reality.  It  will  not  be  enough  to  mechani- 
cally '  think  about  it '  at  long  intervals.  We 
should  muse  and  dream  awake,  and  let  the  Idea 
melt  into  our  mind  till  it  becomes,  as  it  were,  our- 
self. 

*  I  am  only  teUing  you,'  said  the  Tinker,  *  what 
you  could  do  if  you  tried.  Kittles  ain't  so  hard 
to  mend  if  you  keep  on  !* 

There  is  a  kind  of  unwholesome  small  potato 
which  has  very  little  in  it  fit  to  eat,  but  which  is 
covered  with  '  eyes,'  and  like  unto  it  there  are 
men  who,  nothing  in  themselves,  are  still  en- 
dowed with  wonderful  Perception,  especially  of 
defects  and  shortcomings.  If  they  were  guests 
at  the  very  best  dinner  ever  given  on  earth,  they 
would  enjoy  the  discovery  of  a  hole  in  the  table- 
cloth more  than  all  the  dainties  on  it.,  And  if 
they  are  gentlemen  of  the  press,  and  anything 
went  wrong,  that  would  be  their  piece  de  resist- 


I04  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

ance  in  the  literary  rechauffee  which  they  serve  up 
to  the  '  readers.'  It  was  a  writer  of  this  class 
who,  when  Carlyle  first  appeared,  declared  that 
one  might  as  well  attempt  to  criticise  a  hedge- 
hog. Which  was  a  great  compliment,  had  he  but 
known  it,  for  the  hotchewitchi,  as  gipsies  call  it, 
is  most  delicious  eating.  Now,  I  trow  such  men, 
taking  no  account  that  I  am  the  first  to  adven- 
ture into  a  strange  and  bewildering  region  of 
thought  \vhere  it  is  hard  to  pioneer  in  any  way, 
will  find  much  to  chaff  and  ridicule  gaily  in  the 
ideas  here  advanced.  All  of  which  I  mention, 
not  out  of  care  for  such  would-be  tormentors, 
but  to  beg  the  reader  to  consider  that  this  whole 
work  must  be  seriously  studied,  and  that  in  a 
kindly  spirit.  For  as  it  took  the  writer  a  very 
long  time  himself  to  assent  to  the  theory  which 
came  to  him  as  if  proposed  by  his  own  Lady  of 
the  Brain — as  he  gave  it  due  argument  pro  et  con, 
and  gave  in  to  it  slowly — ^he  opines  that  it  deserves 
fair  study.  And  this  is  specially  true  of  the  pro- 
position that  Imagination  is  the  concordance  of 
the  Feminine  contribution  of  fresh  memories  and 
the  dream  power  of  casting  them  loosely  together, 
as  in  a  hurried  sketch,  with  the  waking  masculine 
reason,  which  works  it  all  into  something  coherent 
or  perfect.  For  the  more  I  watch  my  own  mind 
and  its  processes  of  thought,  the  more  does  this 
appear  to  me  to  be  the  true  explanation  of  Im- 
agination and  of  Genius  in  its  degrees,  great  or 
small,  it  being  assumed  that  every  human  being 


ENTERING  INTO  HARMONY  105 

has  something  of  both,  and  that  he  or  she  might 
have  far  more  by  developing  the  power  within, 
and  bringing  it  into  companionship,  Cognition, 
or  sympathy  with  Reason.  For  it  seems  to  be 
supported  by  the  most  recent  conclusions  of 
science  as  regards  the  origin  of  Life  and  Em- 
bryology, on  which  indeed  it  entirely  depends, 
I  having  been  greatly  aided  by  such  works  as 
The  Evolution  of  Sex,  and  others  cited  in  these 
pages,  but  for  which  I  could  not  have  formed  the 
Theory,  which  I  have  perhaps  but  very  feebly 
supported,  but  which  abler  minds  may  prove  or 
disprove. 

Now,  to  be  practical,  I  myself  have  found  this 
to  be  true,  as  you  may  also,  with  small  pains,  that 
if  you  begin  with  fore-thinking,  and  considering 
the  fact  of  the  mind  Within,  and  turn  it  over  often 
till  it  becomes  familiar  (as  artists  of  superior  in- 
telligence view  and  review  a  picture  to  be),  it  will 
be  your  own  fault,  and  proof  that  you  are  not 
among  even  the  very  moderately  gifted,  if  the 
spirit  do  not  begin  to  seem  to  be  a  real  presence. 
You  may  not  see  it  with  your  eye,  or  even  the 
mind's  eyes,  pseudo-visually  or  otherwise,  but 
you  feel  and  know  that  it  exists.  Then,  if  you 
wish  to  develop  any  subject  intellectually,  as  to 
write  a  poem,  or  acquire  ideas  for  any  work,  and 
will  urge  it  on  the  Spirit,  seeking  its  co-operation, 
it  will  ere  long,  or  on  the  next  day,  inspire  you 
with  what  you  want,  the  process  gaining  strength 
as  it  is  repeated.   The  end  of  it  all  being  that  your 


io6  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

Imagination  will  be  exalted  and  improved,  and 
greater  union  established  between  it  and  your 
Judgment. 

There  are  many  people  who  go  through  life 
alone  without  company  or  friends.  Now,  if  such 
read  these  pages — and  truly  they  are  to  be  deeply 
pitied — and  they  are  not  of  the  flippant  sneerers 
and  doubters  and  would-be  '  funny  folk '  in  any 
way — I  can  tell  them  that  in  this  conception  of 
the  Lady  or  Lord  of  the  Brain,  they  may  in  very 
truth  get  marvellous  comfort,  and  have  good  com- 
pany, whenever  they  will.  And  though  it  may 
seem  to  thee  like  turning  again  unto  the  ghost- 
haunted  paths  trodden  by  our  ancestors,  or 
running  after  the  follies  of  occultism,  which  to 
do  is  to  be  held  a  fool  by  '  clever  practical  folk,' 
it  is  none  the  less  true  that  this  thy  Inner  Self,  if 
long  studied  {fixis  o cults  intuetur),  will  be  a  com- 
fort in  thy  darkest  hours,  and  a  friend  in  truth. 
For  thus  wilt  thou  add  to  thy  heaven  a  star — 
stdera  addere  ccelo — whose  light  will  never  fade, 
and  ever  guide  thee  to  a  golden  end.  And  in  the 
silent  watches  of  the  night  it  will  be  as  a  fairy 
visitor  or  an  angel  in  a  dream. 


CHAPTER  XI 

OF  MUTUAL  INFLUENCE 

There  appeared  in  the  year  1744 — it  was  a  time 
when  the  Renaissance  of  Magic,  Free  Masonry, 
Astrology,  and  Alchemy  had  so  swept  over  Europe 
that  few  escaped  it — a  work  entitled  Hermippus 
Redivivus,  or  the  Sage's  Triumph  over  Old  Age  and 
the  Grave,  of  which  D' Israeli  the  elder  has  taken 
note.  It  purported  to  show  from  an  alleged  old 
Latin  epitaph — forged  by  the  author — that  a 
certain  man  had  once  lived  to  one  hundred  and 
fourteen  years  of  age,  ex  anhelitu  puellarum — by 
the  breath  of  young  girls ;  and  proceeded  very  in- 
geniously and  plausibly  to  set  forth  the  theory  that 
a  weakly  or  elderly  person  could  regain  lost  strength 
and  even  restore  youth  by  living  intimately 
with  or  among  juvenile  or  healthy  and  vigorous 
people.  This  little  work  made  a  great  sensation 
at  first,  and  was  then  ridiculed  because  it  was  found 
to  be  a  forgery,  just  as  the  public,  in  the  fierceness 
of  its  condemnation  of  Chatterton  as  a  forger, 
quite  forgot  the  real  merit  which  was  in  his 
poemSi 

[  107  ] 


io8  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

For  that  there  was  a  certain  degree  of  truth, 
or  enough  to  authorize  reflection  and  research 
into  the  Hermippus  theory,  suggested  itself  to 
many.  Without  having  resource  to  Magnetism 
or  Mesmerism  to  explain  it,  the  world  has,  we  may 
say,  long  known  by  experience  that  man  and 
woman  mutually  derive  from  one  another  health, 
not  by  any  means  solely  from  such  gratification 
of  sexual  desire  as  health  and  Nature  exact,  but 
by  a  mysterious  mutual  mingling  of  bodily  in- 
fluence, which  will  be  explained  by  biology  and 
physiology  in  due  time.  Married  couples  are 
generally  supposed  to  live  longer  than  celibates 
owing  to  this  giving  and  taking  vitality ;  for  as 
the  witch  was  believed  to  give  forth  or  spread  an 
aura  or  supernaturally  evil  radiation  of  air,  so  per 
contra  the  blooming  salu  britor,  or  sanitarian,  with 
his  (or  her)  bracing  and  invigorating  power,  has 
ever  been  thought  to  benefit  all  about  him.  And 
since  it  was  beyond  all  question  true  that  colds, 
consumption,  and  diseases  beyond  number  were 
communicated,  it  seemed  but  fair  that  Nature 
should  as  a  balance  admit  a  contagion  of  health, 
on  the  principle  that  it  is  a  very  poor  rule  which 
will  not  work  both  ways. 

I  firmly  believe  that  there  is  such  a  tonic  or 
salutary  effect  with  a  purely  physical  basis  or 
influence  of  sex  on  sex,  since  every  physician 
knows  of  cases  of  anaemic,  green,  sickly,  pining 
girls,  and  of  young  men  who  seem  to  be  mysteri- 
ously miserable,   who  bloom   into  health  when 


OF  MUTUAL  INFLUENCE  109 

'  married,'  and  of  whom  frank  friends  say  with  a 
smile,  '  All  that  she  wants  is  a  man,'  or  of  the 
other,'  a  fille.^ 

But  apart  from  sexual  need  there  is  something 
in  the  moral,  intellectual,  or  social  influence  of 
man  on  woman  and  of  woman  on  man  which  has 
been  more  or  less  commented  on  by  a  grand  army 
of  writers,  from  Moses,  who  represents  the  Lord 
as  having  just  expressed  the  opinion,  down  to 
Thackeray ,  who  declares  that  the  stupidest  or  most 
foolish  damsel  is  far  better  company  for  a  young 
man  than  none.  Unto  which  it  may  be  added 
that  the  lady  has  just  as  much  need  of  congenial 
male  society,  only  let  it  be  observed  that  the 
alternative  for  either  supposes  a  good  and  fit 
companion — not  a  fool.  So  there  is  a  pleasant 
and  once  common  French  picture  entitled 
Comme  VEsprit  vient  aux  Filles — how  girls  got 
their  wit,  or  Wisdom,  which  represented  a 
Bon  Gaultier  telling  merry  tales  to  laughing 
damsels. 

Now,  without  having  recourse  to  teleology  or 
Providential  Intention,  I  would  assert  that,  from 
this  point  of  view,  it  is  a  sa  lucky  thing  for  every 
man  to  have,  like  a  lobster,  a  lady  in  his  head,  as 
for  every  feminine  to  have  a  man,  since  it  is  by 
no  means  sure  that  it  is  not  a  part  of  the  great 
law  which  makes  polarism,  antithesis,  and  sensivity 
the  rule  of  life  and  progressive  intellect.  In  very 
truth  I  wonder  sometimes  whether  this  be  not  the 
true  Adam  and  Eve,  and  if  the  Devil  did  not  keep 


no  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

faith  with  the  Lady  by  giving  her  all  the  stores  of 
good  and  of  evil,  and  of  supernatural  wisdom — eritis 
sicut  Deus — and  then  came  Deus  and  shut  her  up 
in  Adam's  brain,  or  Adam  in  her  brain,  and  so 
conditioned  her  and  him  that  from  that  time  they 
met  no  more,  or,  if  they  did,  it  was  only  at  long 
intervals,  as  the  Gipsies  say  that  the  Man  in  the 
Moon  mee1:s  his  sister  the  Sun  once  a  month  to 
borrow  light.  Which  accounts  for  several  things 
— among  others  the  appearance  at  that  time  of  so 
many  magazines,  ranging  from  penny  dips  up  to 
electrics ! 

Unfortunately  Man  has  not  known  of  this  Lady 
in  his  brain,  and  when  he  met  her  now  and  then 
and  learned  from  or  profited  by  her,  he  thought 
like  Zoroaster  it  was  '  His  own  shadow  walking 
in  the  garden  ' — truly  a  shadow  informed  with  a 
certain  intellect,  like  that  in  Chamisso's  tale, 
which  so  sadly  wailed  out  a  scriptural  text.  But, 
after  all,  he  never  dreamed  that  it  was  anything 
but  Himself.  And  he  profited  greatly  by  her 
influence,  and  might  have  profited  far  more  had 
he  known  the  truth  and  kept  company  with  her 
and  been  her  young  man,  as  so  many  poets  have 
to  a  degree  succeeded  in  doing. 

In  earlier  life,  or  even  in  a  riper  age,  full  faith 
and  long-continued  determined  thought  as  Will, 
exercised  with  Forethought — that  is  to  say,  fully 
matured  understanding  or  comprehension  of  what 
we  really  mean,  supported  by  Perseverance,  can 
work  what  we  call  Miracles.     Unto  this  I  have  de- 


OF  MUTUAL  INFLUENCE  in 

voted  a  bookwhich  explains  the  process  in  detail.* 
Of  which  book  I,  somewhat  unwillingly,  and  after 
due  reflection,  and  as  a  duty,  will  tell  something 
which  is  absolutely  true,  and  in  no  degree  romanced 
or  involuntarily  exaggerated.  After  I  had  pub- 
lished it,  I  took  to  reading  it  over  six  or  seven  times 
with  great  attention,  as  I  had  never  done  before 
with  any  of  my  own  works.  And  every  time  I 
learned  something,  and  was  often  astonished  at 
it,  as  if  it  had  been  a  book  by  some  olher  person, 
and  that  without  vanity  or  egoism.  So  I  became 
a  Mentor  unto  myself,  till  I  began  to  believe  that 
/,  the  real  Self,  had  not  written  it  at  all,  though 
I  had  certainly  given  it  form.  This  led  me  to 
reflect  on  the  Subliminal  Self,  and  the  Inner  Me, 
and  the  Unconscious  Cerebration  and  Astral 
Incorporation  on  which  so  many  Theosophic  and 
other  works  have  been  written,  all  of  which  I 
found  absolutely  unsatisfactory  because  none  of 
them  actually  conformed  to  Science  and  strict 
Materialism,  all  being  in  fact  founded  on  old 
Superstition,  Tradition,  and  Spiritualism.  Then 
it  struck  me  that  this  Inner  Self,  which  showed  a 
separate  power  or  creative  ability  in  Dreams,  was 
the  result  of  the  bodily  remnant  in  us  of  the  other 
sex — working  in  darkness,  and  yet  strangely 
working  in  its  way — and  the  result  was  this 
book., 

*  *  Have  You  a  Strong  Will  ?  Or,  How  to  Develop  Will 
Power  or  any  other  Faculty,  etc.,  and  render  it  habitual,  etc.* 
By  Charles  Godfrey  Leland.     London  :  Philip  Wellby. 


112  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

I  think  that  if  the  reader  will  reflect  on  it,  and 
study  the  characters  of  his  or  her  friends,  he  or 
she  will  find  much  therein  to  confirm  the  theory. 
As  I  write  there  occurs  to  me  a  young  lady  who 
inhabits  a  palazzo  in  Rome,  and  lives  in  the  beau 
monde,  the  joy  of  whose  heart  is  to  buy  and  sell 
horses,  and  drive  long  bargains  day  after  day  with 
a  dozen  maquignons,  in  which  bargains  she  often 
gets  the  better  of  them,  and  who  is  acquainted 
with  or  has  met  I  know  not  how  many  brigands, 
settimani  or  wizards,  gypsies,  and  the  like,  and  it 
would  be  a  hard  task  to  convince  me  that  she  has 
not  the  Gentleman  within  her  brain  to  a  very 
appreciable  degree,  though  she  be  feminine  and 
lady-like  without,  as  much  as  heart  could  desire. 

Again,  I  recall  a  man,  now  passed  away,  whose 
name  is  known  to  all  my  readers,  whose  bravery 
was  remarkable  as  his  iAimense  learning.  There 
was  always  something  in  his  voice,  his  smile,  in 
the  gentle  folding  of  his  hands,  which  struck  me 
as  very  feminine.  He  was  a  stupendous  linguist — 
a  foreign  tongue  seemed  to  come  to  him  as  if  by 
inspiration  ;  in  this  respect  I  never  met  his  equal, 
and  yet  at  several  Oriental  Congresses  I  have  met 
with  men  who  were  therein  Masters.  What  was 
remarkable  in  this  was  that  he  made  no  use  what- 
ever of  dictionaries  or  grammars,  though  he  wrote 
the  latter.  He  had  no  patience  with  them.  He 
merely  listened  to  a  foreigner  for  a  few  days,  took 
in  every  word  with  a  feminine  quick  perception 
of  its  meaning,  and  forgot  nothing.     In  a  few  days 


OF  MUTUAL  INFLUENCE  113 

he  would  be  talking  it,  as  it  seemed,  like  a  native. 
I  can  only  explain  this  by  the  theory  that  in  him 
the  female  element  in  his  brain  quickly  recorded 
in  his  memory  every  word,  and  gave  it  out  again 
with  special  promptitude.  Women  are  often 
wonderful  linguists  without  much  study.  I  knew 
one  who  spoke  sixteen  languages  fluently,  and 
had  never,  I  think,  used  a  book  for  one,  except 
that  she  spoke  of  having  consulted  Catafago's 
Dictionary  for  Arabic  words.  She  was  remark- 
able in  being  intellectually  almost  deficient  in 
most  respects,  though  she  was  quick  at  catching 
ordinary  meanings  and  ideas.  In  her  the  male 
element  probably  functioned  as  the  female  did  in 
the  other  case. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE   IMMORTALITY   OF    THE    SOUL  AND   THE   MIND 
WITHIN   IN   RELATION   TO   THE   INNER   SEX 

As  I  have  written  in  the  foregoing,  the  soul  is  as 
material  as  the  body,  and  it  is  from  its  materiality, 
as  well  as  other  properties  in  common  with 
created  or  evolved  organisms,  that  I  infer  its 
immortality.  For  that  matter  exists  we  know, 
and  that  it  is  from  its  very  nature  indestructible, 
but  of  Spirit  we  know  nothing  beyond  what  is 
told  by  Tradition  or  '  They  say  so,^ 

We  find  in  every  being  certain  functions  or  organs 
which,  when  they  have  fulfilled  their  appointed 
tasks  in  life,  disappear  in  death,  and  then,  as 
elements  or  matter  in  some  more  or  less  subtle 
form,  enter  into  new  combinations. 

But  every  one  of  these  functions  or  faculties 
has  been  in  its  way  and  time  developed  and 
carried  to  its  aim  and  end.  We  have  smelt,  tasted 
and  felt,  seen  and  heard,  while  we  used  the  body. 
Moreover,  we  have  developed  and  used  our  mental 
qualities  to  a  more  or  less  satisfactory  degree. 
All  save  one,  and  that  the  most  important  of  all, 
if  we  may  judge  by  the  attention  which  Moses 
[114] 


IMMORTALITY  OF  THE  SOUL  115 

has  paid  to  it,  the  Hves  which  have  been  devoted  to 
it,  and  the  money  spent  thereon,  which  has  been 
about  equal  to  that  devoted  to  war.  This  is  the 
Soul  whose  Immortality  forms  the  real  basis  of 
every  religion.  During  life  with  the  vast  majority 
or  totality  of  mankind,  its  training,  or  care,  or 
preparation  for  the  Future  is,  as  we  are  told 
by  the  Wisdom  of  all  the  Ages  and  of  all  the 
World,  the  thing  of  all  others  to  be  studied, 
even  in  preference  to  every  other  earthly  blessing 
or  benefit.  As  a  fact,  in  social  and  mental  evo- 
lution it  has  attracted  more  serious  and  enthusi- 
astic work  than  any  other. 

The  Soul  is  the  highest  mental  power,  that  which 
governs  the  rest,  and  which  has  thus  far  defied 
detection.  Carpenter,  who  analyzed  or  ascer- 
tained with  tolerable  accuracy  the  workings  of 
all  the  other  functions  of  the  brain,  could  not  find 
the  Master,  who,  however,  clearly  exists.  There 
are  some  who  find  in  him  the  coefficient  or  joint 
result  of  the  other  forces  ;  this  does  not  destroy 
the  theory  of  his  existence  as  an  independent 
being.  The  Bees  form  their  monstrous  Queen  by 
contribution  ;  the  Queen  Bee  of  the  Soul  is  formed 
in  like  manner. 

But  what  would  be  a  monstrous  contradiction 
to  all  known  Law  would  be  that  an  Existence — 
the  very  master  of  mental  power — which  had  by 
the  concurrence  of  innumerable  ideas  and  social 
impulses  been  prepared  and  trained  to  a  faith  in 
Immortality,  devoting  to  it  powers  which  would 

8—2 


ii6  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

be  merely  wasted  if  it  had  no  future,  should  be 
the  one  only  mental  power  which  does  not  achieve  its 
end  !  It  would  be  like  a  drama  or  romance  with 
its  last  act  or  chapter  gone  ;  in  fact,  most  of  the 
intellectual  work  in  a  life  devoted  to  no  real  end 
whatever.  Truly,  it  is  from  this  point  of  view 
that  many  enemies  of  the  Church  have  regarded 
religion — that  is,  as  an  empty  cheat  whereon  man- 
kind have  wasted  their  millions  to  support  knaves ; 
but  the  real  motive  lay  deeper  than  they  wotted 
of.  There  is  in  man  a  result  of  mentality  which 
survives  the  rest,  and  passes  to  new  form  among 
the  Existences  which  are  not  perceptible  to  our 
senses. 

A  marvellous  confirmation  of  this  is  in  the  fact 
that  so  many  people  when  very  near  death  see  or 
perceive,  all  at  once,  and  altogether,  as  it  were, 
condensed,  every  event  or  incident  of  their  past 
lives.  Now,  with  many  of  these  cases  the  testi- 
mony has  been  feeble,  but  I  have  had  within  my 
own  experience  one  which  was  all-sufficient  to 
settle  the  fact.  I  had  a  brother  named  Henry 
Perry  Leland,  a  man  of  marked  integrity  and 
talent.  He  had  studied  Art  in  Rome,  spoke  several 
languages,  and  written  several  books.  He  eventu- 
ally died  of  the  result  of  a  wound  received  during 
the  Civil  War.  It  happened  once  that  while  bath- 
ing in  the  surf  at  Cape  May,  New  Jersey,  he  was 
carried  by  the  tide  out  to  sea,  and  for  half  an  hour 
or  more  swam  for  his  life,  with  almost  no  hope. 
Finally,  after  having  been  washed  a  mile  below 


IMMORTALITY  OF  THE  SOUL  117 

the  point  whence  he  started,  a  chance  wave  took 
him  in  and  landed  him  on  the  very  point  of  the 
Cape  by  a  most  marvellous  chance.  Unto  him, 
in  what  appeared  to  be  the  most  critical  moment, 
when  life  was  trembling  in  the  balance,  came  in 
an  instant  a  complete  memory  of  everything  in 
his  past  life — all  in  one.  I,  being  occupied  with 
reading  such  subjects,  and  having  a  fairly  large 
collection  of  German  and  other  metaphysics  and 
occulta,  questioned  him  with  care,  the  result  being 
my  full  conviction  that  this  concentration  of  ex- 
perience is  a  fact. 

I  had  also  known  at  Weinsberg  in  my  youth 
Dr.  Justinus  Kerner,  who  from  similar  experi- 
ences formed  the  belief  that  the  disembodied  soul 
ever  bore  with  it  as  a  kind  of  record  or  tablet  all 
the  experiences  of  its  bygone  life — that  is,  in  a 
monogram.  We  may  understand  that,  while  the 
soul  does  not  carry  with  it  all  the  millions  of 
Images  in  the  Memory  Cells,  it  may  still  have 
photographed  in  itself  and  condensed  all  that 
Memory  ever  received.  And  to  what  end  or  aim 
can  this  condensation  of  all  Experience  be  made 
in  man  if  it  be  not  to  carry  into  a  future  life  ? 
Nature  makes  nothing  in  vain.  Or  why  is  the 
Soul  perfected  by  the  belief  in  Immortality,  and 
matured  into  a  being  or  mentality  far  beyond  all 
other  powers,  if  it  is  never  to  exercise  in  full 
those  powers  which  it  has  barely  awakened  here 
below  ?  It  is  the  one  factor  which  has  never 
worked  itself  out  while  in  life,  therefore  in  death 


ii8  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

it  is  ascenstonem  expedans  — '  awaiting  its 
destiny.' 

The  soul  is  a  force  resulting  probably  from 
sensivity  in  combination  with  other  forces  :  it 
may  have  originated  with  us  ;  in  any  case,  as  a 
force  it  cannot  die.  The  electricity  or  sensivity, 
whatever  there  is  of  impulse  or  power  in  us,  does 
not  perish,  but  passes  away  into  matter,  there  to 
inspire  new  lives  ;  the  soul-force  doubtless  seeks 
and  finds  among  elements,  to  us  unknown,  another 
shape  with  other  senses,  living,  perhaps,  in  other 
dimensions.  But  that  the  soul  has  been  ere  its 
departure  developed  into  a  separate  and  original 
force  with  peculiar  functions  I  believe,  as  I  do  that 
every  force,  once  created,  goes  on  for  ever,  sustain- 
ing and  sustained  by  all  the  other  constituents  of 
Nature. 

It  would  seem  probable  that  the  female  mind 
in  man,  or  the  masculine  in  woman,  having  the 
full  run  of  the  memory,  is  the  subordinate  to 
whom  is  assigned  the  charge  of  '  all  our  life  in  a 
nutshell.'  For  as  she  or  he  has  had  something 
of  the  same  kind  in  care  from  the  beginning,  this 
has  unto  it  marvellous  affinity,  being,  in  fact,  the 
same  task,  only  perfected. 

Analogies  and  coincidences  are  not  final  proofs, 
but  they  deserve  to  be  treated  with  more  respect 
than  they  generally  receive,  because  there  was  a 
time  when  the  greatest  truths  or  facts  now  recog- 
nised by  Science  and  all  the  world  had  no  better 
support.     This  must  be,  perhaps  ought  to  be,  the 


IMMORTALITY  OF  THE  SOUL  119 

case  for   a  long  time.     Who   would  say  with 
Milton  ? 

*  Let  my  lamp  at  midnight  hour 
Be  seen  in  some  high  lonely  tower, 
Where  I  may  oft  out-watch  the  Bear, 
With  thrice-great  Hermes,  or  unsphere 
The  spirit  of  Plato,  to  unfold 
What  worlds  or  what  vast  regions  hold 
The  immortal  Mind,  that  hath  forsook 
Her  mansion  in  this  fleshly  nook.' 

The  Tower  in  this  exquisite  passage  is  generally 
known  to  have  been  that  of  Galileo,  on  a  hill  which 
is  in  sight  from  where  I  write  here  in  Florence. 

It  seems  to  me  as  if  our  inner  self,  who  can  think 
in  dreams,  and  act  and  make  ingenious  novels  in 
them,  and  sometimes  even  in  our  reveries,  and 
who  has  full  charge  of  the  memory,  must  have 
some  knowledge  as  to  the  future  and  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul.  Nor  does  She  seem  to  be  one 
who  is  to  die  with  the  body.  She  has  passed  all  If 
her  life  like  a  neglected  prisoner,  undeveloped,  A 
awaiting  the  opening  of  the  doors  to  Immortality 
— is  she  not  of  the  soul  and  sharing  its  destiny  ? 

And  we  may  well  believe  that  if  we  are  to  have, 
while  in  this  hfe,  better  knowledge  of  that  which, 
is  to  be,  we  shall  obtain  it  when  we  become  more 
intimate  with  the  soul  within,  and  by  its  aid. 

We  grant  that  Electricity,  Gravity,  Ether,  and  / 
other  Forces  live  on  for  ever,  and  we  may  also 
admit  that  Sensivity,  which  is  developed  from 
polarism  and  the  conditions  of  Katabolism  and 
Anabolism  to  attraction  and  repulsion,  emotion  or 


I20  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

feeling,  rises  to  instinct  and  intellect.  Certain  it 
is  that  it  is  a  developed  and  continued  Force,  just 
as  much  so  as  any  other.  Now,  what  ground  have 
we  for  believing  that  this  one  force  of  all  others 
comes  to  an  end  and  dies,  especially  since  it  is 
evidently  the  most  variable  and  progressive  ? 
Sensivity  in  its  highest  form  is  not  a  part  of  Intel- 
lect, it  is  the  very  Mind  itself,  the  highest  force  in 
the  brain,  where  it  prepares  unto  itself  a  new  form 
or  body  against  death.  It  has  tended  to  a  Unit 
of  Existence  ever  since  it  has  been  in  the  Body  ; 
it  was  prepared  for  it  in  lower  organisms,  and  will 
rise  from  it  to  higher. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE   EXISTENCE   OF   GOD 

I  HAVE  endeavoured  in  the  foregoing  pages  to 
show,  or  rather  investigate,  the  truth  of  the 
theory  that  there  is  in  us  all,  in  our  mutual  system, 
an  Alternate  Sex  corresponding  to  the  degree  of 
male  or  female  existent  in  our  bodies.  With  this 
I  have  set  forth  the  idea  that  this  Inner  Self  has 
access  to  all  the  hidden  stores  of  Memory,  and 
appears  to  be  the  predominant  factor  in  Dreams, 
and  the  purveyor  of  material  and  a  coefficient 
power  in  all  work  of  the  Imagination,  as  well  as 
the  mysterious  and  occult  capacities  which  seem 
to  be  in  reserve  for  future  evolutions. 

I  have  also  explained  that  in  states  of  semi- 
slumber,  as  in  the  reverie  or  brown  study,  or 
whenever  our  conscious  waking  judgment  partly 
reposes,  the  Inner  Self  steals  forth,  and  combines 
images  from  memory  with  the  aid  of  judgment, 
and  that  all  abstraction  of  the  mind  to  a  single 
subject  partakes  of  this. 

Therefore  it  is  a  very  important  accomplishmeni 
to  be  able  to  enter  into  harmony  with,  control  oi 

[   121   ] 


122  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

manage,  this  inner  independent  function,  since  the 
degree  to  which  a  man  can  do  so  gives  him  Imagina- 
tion, or  the  power  to  act  as  poet,  artist,  inventor, 
or,  in  fact,  carry  out,  if  not  originally  conceive,  all 
works  of  genius.  Of  which  I  am  thoroughly  con- 
vinced, but  beg  the  reader  to  observe  that  I  neither 
guarantee  that  the  process  shall  be  extremely 
light,  short,  and  easy,  or  that  the  success  shall  be 
extraordinary,  unless  there  be  unusual  gifts.  All 
that  any  man  can  do  by  the  system  is  to  make  the 
best  of  what  is  in  him.  Which  I  mention  to  spare 
small  critics  the  trouble  of  declaring  that  I  profess 
to  be  able  to  create  Genius  to  any  extent  to  order. 

This  control  over,  or  agreement  with,  the 
Imagination  is  to  be  obtained,  mechanically  or 
corporeally,  by  simply  thinking  on  a  subject,  and 
in  a  way  not  very  easy  to  describe,  yet  which 
will  in  all  cases  come  forth  or  suggest  itself  to 
the  seeker.  But  far  beyond  this,  when  the  practice 
of  reverie  or  half  sleep  becomes  habitual,  is  the 
employment  of  the  two  mighty  powers  Will  and 
Prayer,  and  yet  neither  in  the  vulgar  sense  in 
which  they  are  commonly  taken. 

Now,  whether  a  sage  go  mountaineering  or 
valleying  in  Thought,  whether  he  walk  the  level 
plain  of  Common  Sense,  or  soar  to  the  clouds  of 
Genius,  he  will  find  that  all  mental  operations, 
all  Magic,  and  all  that  Man  has  ever  dreamed  that 
he  could  do  in  occult  art,  reduces  itself  to  simple 
supplication  to  and  praise  of  God,  hand  in  hand 
with  his  own  developed  Will.     Herein  is  included 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD  123 

all  that  the  Cabalists  ever  really  achieved,  unto 
which  we  may  add  the  miracles  of  all  Churches 
and  Faiths,  Shamanism,  Voodooing,  Theosophy, 
Faith  Cures,  and  Necromancies  of  all  colours  and 
prices,  whether  warranted  to  wash  or  not,  cheap 
or  dear.  Prayer  and  Will,  Will  and  Prayer — all 
beyond  mere  Experience  is  embraced  in  those 
two  wondrous  words. 

The  quintessence  of  Christianity,  as  Christ 
meant  it  to  be,  was  Faith,  or  Will,  combined  with 
Worship  and  Prayer.  He  meant  that  Man,  free 
from  all  aid  of  Pharisee  or  priest  of  any  kind,  perse, 
and  alone,  or  absolutely  independent  of  influences, 
should  pray  directly  to  God.  This  prayer,  sup- 
ported by  a  pure,  moral,  altruistic  life,  was  the 
beginning  and  the  end  of  His  teaching,  and  forms 
consistently  the  complete  whole  of  His  system, 
whatever  may  have  been  foisted  in,  of  which 
there  was  abundance,  by  the  good  folk  who  stop 
at  no  fraud  if  the  intent  be  pious,  and  who,  to 
enforce  a  dogma,  will  not  merely  forge  a  text 
repudiated  by  the  greatest  scholars,  but  continue 
it  to  the  present  day  in  all  copies  of  the  Bible  ! 

Christ  established  the  theology  of  a  stupendous 
equality  of  Mankind  before  God,  such  as  never 
occurred  on  earth  before,  when  He  taught  that 
every  human  being,  from  the  humblest  slave  up 
to  Caesar,  should  pray  directly  to  the  Deity,  and 
ask  that  a  realm  of  equality  in  justice  and  holi- 
ness should  prevail  here  on  earth.  For,  assuredly, 
to  pray  that  God's  Will  should  be  done  on  earth 


124  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

as  it  is  done  in  heaven  was  asking  for  a  very 
different  state  of  affairs  from  what  prevailed  in 
Rome,  or  has  been  found  there  or  at  any  court 
since.  And  the  Apostles  themselves,  and  after 
them  the  manufacturers  of  every  sect  or  heresy, 
with  the  Roman  Church  at  their  head,  and  the 
Greek  and  Coptic  and  Protestant  following  after, 
one  and  all  did  their  wretched  best  to  work  religion 
for  man  in  direct  contradiction  to  Christ's  great 
idea  that  the  worshipper  should  be  his  own  only 
priest  and  church,  without  any  intercessors  or 
saints,  or  any  agents  whatever.  In  the  manu- 
facture of  these,  by  agents  to  orate  pro  nobis,  there 
went  a  degree  of  invention  which  would  have  in 
its  time  produced  steam-engines,  X  rays,  and 
flying-machines,  if  I  may  believe  sundry  Lives  of 
the  Saints  which  I  have  bought  from  time  to  time 
from  wheelbarrows  and  colporteurs,  the  which 
works  are  as  crammed  with  gross  and  palpable 
lies,  and  coarse  folly  and  false  and  foolish 
miracles,  as  the  '  Adventures  of  Baron  Mun- 
chausen '  or  of  '  Peter  Wilkins,'  albeit  the  Legends 
lack  the  humour  and  common-sense  of  the  latter 
works. 

Now,  Prayer  presupposes  a  God,  and  as  I  have  in 
this  work  avowed  my  belief  that  all  which  exists 
is  one  material  substance  or  Matter,  and  as  this  is 
invariably  assumed  to  be  Atheism,  and  a  denial 
of  all  that  is  divine,  I  may  awaken  some  opinion 
of  being  absurd  or  paradoxical  when  I  declare 
that,  utterly  denying  all  mere  Tradition  as  a  basis 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD  125 

for  Faith,  the  only  grounds  for  actual  behef  m 
God  are  to  be  sought  in  Science,  and,  indeed, 
chiefly  in  what  Science  has  done  of  late  years. 
Now,  I  will  not  say  that  the  existence  of  God,  such 
as  Man  generally  imagines  Him  to  be,  is  perfectly 
and  clearly  proved.  Perhaps  it  never  will  be  so 
long  as  the  Ideal  of  Him  progresses.  Whenever 
in  the  Past,  at  any  time,  men  believed  they  had 
attained  to  absolute  proof  of  His  existence,  and 
perfected  Him  as  a  Monotheistic  Jehovah  or 
Brahma,  then  there  set  in  after  a  time  such  a  fixed 
creed  or  such  a  Conservatism  as  was  incompatible 
with  Social  Evolution.  For  whenever  humanity 
believes  too  much,  it  becomes  too  superstitious  and 
slavish,  while,  on  the  contrary,  when  it  is  sure  of 
nothing,  Anarchy  sets  in. 

It  is  beginning  to  be  a  very  general  opinion  that 
Matter  is  infinitely  more  subtle  than  it  was  con- 
ceived to  be  of  old,  also  that  there  are  Forces  so 
hidden  as  to  be  unknown  to  us.  As  Aristotle 
believed  there  were  only  four  elements,  whereas 
we  believe  in  nearly  a  hundred,  and  that  all  of 
these  are  probably  but  one,  so  Analysis  is  pro- 
gressing to  the  idea  of  as  yet  undiscovered  Laws. 
When  it  is  considered  that  Matter  in  this  world 
assumes  millions  of  forms,  and  in  a  planet  larger 
or  smaller,  probably  or  certainly,  millions  of  others, 
we  conclude  there  is  no  limit  to  the  evolving 
force  in  Nature  or  its  results. 

As  many  of  the  elements  and,  to  a  degree,  the 
real  Forces  were  unknown  to  Man  or  imperceptible 


126  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

to  his  Senses  until  the  latter  were  aided  by  inven- 
tions and  experiment,  so  it  follows  that  there  may 
be  still  subtler  forms  awaiting  discovery.  More 
than  this,  there  seems  to  be  proof  that  there  are 
senses  as  yet  unknown  to  Man  in  certain  organ- 
isms, or  that  he  has  in  himself  senses  and  capa- 
cities which  will  be  evolved  in  the  Future.  All  of 
which  admits  the  possibility  of  forms  of  matter, 
beings,  or  Intelligences,  not  now  perceptible  to 
our  senses  (which  were  simply  created  for  a 
certain  routine),  yet  which  really  exist.  Modern 
Science  is  every  day  opening  some  new  door 
through  which  comes  light  on  this  subject. 

Admitting  subtle  and  higher  Intelligences, 
which  is  no  more  than  admitting  that  there  are 
on  earth  degrees  in  human  beings,  we  come  pro- 
gressively to  God  :  it  may  be  in  a  series  of  beings ; 
thereof  we  know  nothing,  and  it  is  no  more  neces- 
sary that  we  should  try  to  understand  what  is 
probably  far  beyond  our  best  Intelligence  than 
that  a  babe  of  a  month  should  have  the  Integral 
Calculus  explained  to  it. 

For  since  no  man  who  ever  lived  could  ever  yet 
fundamentally  explain  the  simplest  problem  in 
Nature,  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether  his  mind 
could  rise  to  or  grasp  the  clearest  explication  of 
God,  or  the  problems  and  paradoxes  of  Creation — 
albeit  we  are  all  crazy  for  the  revelation,  though 
we  know  it  would  wreck  our  small  understandings 
— ^wherein  we  are  marvellously  like  many  women, 
who,  being  quite  sure  that  some  secret  is  really 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD  127 

none  of  their  business,  would  '  harrow  hell  and  rake 
out  the  devil ' — yea,  and  become  his  prey — to  find 
it  out.  Yet  this  we  may  understand,  and  it  is 
better  worth  studying  than  all  the  '  metaphysic  ' 
ever  invented,  that  Matter  and  Force  are  infinite 
in  forms  beyond  our  sense  perception,  and  that 
in  their  extent  they  can  hardly  fail  to  include 
stupendous  Intelligences,  inasmuch  as  Evolution 
includes  stupendous  Ingenuity,  which  implies  such 
Existence. 

Nor  is  it  very  logical  or  consistent  with  all  which 
we  see  in  Nature  to  believe  that  there  is  an  as- 
cending series  of  intelligences  from  the  lowest 
organism  up  to  Man,  where  mentality  ceases,  while 
beyond  him  are  innumerable  marvellous  creations 
ever  evolving.  According  to  Fichte,  God  reaches 
His  highest  development  in  Man,  which  is  truly  a 
very  narrow-minded  and  ignorant  idea,  consider- 
ing that  Man  does  not  understand  the  simplest  of 
God's  works.  But  to  Fichte,  as  to  all  of  the  old 
schools,  man's  senses  formed  the  limit  of  creation, 
and  it  never  occurred  to  transcendentalists  that 
despised  Matter  might  contain  existences  very 
far  beyond  human  beings  —  more  refined,  subtle, 
and  intellectual.  And  if  this  be  not  as  yet  fully 
proved,  one  thing  is  at  least  certain,  that  it  is  far 
better  supported  by  Science  and  rendered  far 
more  probable  than  was  ever  yet  anything  backed 
by  '  Spiritualism.' 

Nearly  all  of  this  is  '  mere  hypothesis,'  but  it 
agrees  with  what  we  know  to  be  true,  and  is  in 


128  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

accordatxce  with  the  '  trend  '  of  modern  science. 
What  supports  it  is  the  consideration  as  tov/hether 
the  infinite  action  of  Forces  in  Nature  on  Matter 
is  blind  chance  evolving  without  Thought  or 
Intellect,  or  whether  there  be  a  guiding  mind — 
of  course  like  our  own — that  has  been  the  first 
condition  in  all  religions  from  the  beginning  ! 

Now,  when  we  consider  and  realize  (even  when 
aided  by  Von  Hartmann's  '  Philosophy  of  the 
Unconscious  ')  that  the  cleverest  among  us  have 
no  idea  to  what  degree  Phidias,  when  he  cut  his 
marble,  or  Shakespeare,  when  he  wrote  his  plays, 
was,  after  all,  only  carrying  out  and  onwards 
inherited  Instinct  and  transmitted  tradition  and 
habit,  we  should  m  modesty  admit  that  we  are 
none  of  us  quite  so  mdependent  or  original  as  we 
all  believe  ourselves  to  be.  I  can  well  suppose 
that  a  bird,  carolling  in  the  sunlight  on  a  bough, 
has  some  dim  perception  that  nothing  can  be 
happier  or  know  more  than  it  does.  That  there 
are  marvellous  degrees  in  human  Intelligence,  and 
that  a  Papuan  is  just  one  grade  above  an  ape,  is 
not  reflected  on.  As  before  said,  the  very  highest 
human  genius  has  not  arrived  at  the  complete 
solution  of  the  very  simplest  problems  in  Nature. 
This  is  shown  in  the  study  of  Embryology,  once 
considered  so  simple,  but  in  which,  as  we  proceed, 
with  every  new  advance  ten  deeper  problems 
reveal  themselves.  If  the  very  transcendentalism 
of  ingenious  adaptiveness  and  of  creation  is  a 
proof  of  intellect,  then  blind  Chance  in  Evolution 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD  129 

is  of  its  kind  a  Mind,  since  it  embraces  our  minds, 
and  who  can  say  what  higher  hidden  forms  of 
Intellect — yea,  a  God  ?  For  He  is  Evolution 
embracing  all  things,  especially  Himself,  the  self- 
evolved,  ever  working  in  mysterious  ways  His 
wonders  to  perform — the  Maker  and  the  Made. 

Now,  that  everything  is  not  perfect  in  this  world, 
according  to  our  ideas,  is  palpable  enough,  but  to 
conclude  from  this  that  there  is  no  God  at  all, 
and  that  our  imperfectly-developed  minds  have 
grasped  the  idea  of  Evolution  as  it  ought  to  be  or 
is,  is  illogical. 

What  further  confirms  this  is  the  truth  that  all 
who  lead  good  lives,  according  to  their  lights, 
doing  their  duty  for  its  owii  sake,  and  all  that  is 
good  because  it  is  good,  ever  praying  unto  and 
praising  God,  are  the  best  among  men,  and  ever 
getting  their  reward  the  less  they  care  for  it.  Be 
it  delusion  or  not,  he  who  lives  in  faith  in  God 
with  all  his  Will,  absolutely  given  and  determined 
to  walk  in  His  holy  Way  according  to  His  holy 
Will,  with  perfect  humility  and  devotion  and  proper 
wisdom,  that  man  is  among  men  the  happiest. 
Whether  Evolution  be  blindly  called  blind  chance, 
or  if  it  be  so,  or  all  be  managed  by  a  Providence, 
Faith  in  God  is  the  best  guide  for  Man.  And 
whether  creation  and  the  world  be  full  of  suffering, 
or  errors,  or  not,  the  devout  man  is  blessed  by 
God,  and  by  prayer  he  can  rise  so  far  as  he  needs 
to  go. 

Unto  this  conclusion  I  have  been  led  by  perfect, 

9 


I30  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

unflinching,  consistent  Materialism,  or  by  a  faith 
that  Matter  is  all  in  all,  and  therp  is  no  such  thing 
as  Spirit  of  any  kind.  And  nt  appears  to  me, 
moreover,  that  it  is  only  on  this  ground  that  we 
can  arrive  at  anything  at  all  like  certainty  that 
there  is  a  God  or  higher  Intelligences  than  ours,  or 
a  future,  but  that  every  step  of  modem  Science 
is  leading  to  this  result.  Now,  according  to  the 
old  system  it  was  a  very  easy  matter  indeed  to 
make  your  proof  as  firm  and  perfect  as  you  pleased 
by  first  begging  the  question — that  is,  by  assuming 
that  a  God  made  quite  on  your  own  lines  existed, 
and  then  making  or  assuming  traditions  to  support 
your  fancies.  The  proof  of  the  existence  of  God 
is  in  proportion  to  the  wisdom  of  the  recipient,  and 
all  that  we  can  expect  is  to  rise  in  faith  for  ever, 
yet  ever  gaining  fresh  proof. 

It  was  inordinately  arrogant  of  the  Mystics,  of 
whom  Peiresc  has  in  a  book  described  about  five 
hundred  kinds,  to  aim  at  a  union  of  the  soul  with 
God,  and  actual  Identity  with  Him,  which  idea  pre- 
vailed among  innumerable  Persians  and  Indians, 
or,  I  may  say,  still  prevails.  They  prayed,  or 
abstracted,  or  opiumed,  or  hasheeshed,  or  shouted 
themselves  in  camp  meetings  as  Methodists  or 
Convulsionnaires,  into  fits  or  syncopes,  and 
believed  that  they  were  all  inspired,  when  they 
were  in  a  way  only  drunk.  There  is  no  such 
union  with  God  or  the  Power  above  us.  All  that 
the  purest  and  holiest  should  hope  for  is  to  be  his 
humblest  servant  serving  Him  in  truth.     That  is 


THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD  131 

better  than  all  that  the  most  ambitious  mortal  can 
conceive.  Simple  prayer,  of  which  the  Lord's  is 
the  ideal,  and  sincere  praise  is  worth  it  all.  He 
who  does  this  sincerely,  and  who  lives  in  it,  and 
has  daily  recourse  to  it,  will  attain  to  absolute 
peace,  and  find  that  it  is  not  only  a  protection 
from  all  troubles,  but  that  God,  who  knows  our 
thoughts  and  needs  better  than  we  do,  will  take 
every  care  of  us. 

It  is  all  very  simple,  but  there  is  no  wisdom 
beyond  it ;  it  is  worth  all  the  volumes  of  theo- 
logy ever  written.  Pray  in  sincerity  to  be  made 
good  and  wise,  and  do  your  best  according  to 
your  lights  to  carry  it  out  in  life,  and  wisdom  and 
purity  will  not  be  denied  you.  Add  to  this,  earnest 
development  of  your  Will  little  by  little,  ever  con- 
tinued, and  you  will  attain  to  wondrous  power, 
even  to  what  is  called  miracle. 

It  is  well  to  add  to  this  that  a  contented  mind 
is  a  great  aid  to  such  elevation.  Few  indeed  are 
those  on  earth  who  realize  the  blessings  which 
they  enjoy  or  should  enjoy  did  they  really  think 
of  them.  But  they  become  accustomed  to  them, 
and  take  them  as  a  matter  of  course  or  as  a  due, 
giving  most  of  their  thoughts  to  Something  More, 
and  ever  more  again,  till  all  life  is  full  of  dis- 
content. Now,  with  every  prayer,  and  every  day, 
every  soul  should  earnestly  reflect  on  what  he  or 
she  has  that  is  good  in  life  and  enjoyable  in  all  its 
fulness,  and  thank  God  for  it.  Doing  this  we 
shall  soon  note  that  new  and  special  blessings 

9—2 


132  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

begin  to  come,  and  truly  it  is  marvellous  how 
often  they  come  when  we  once  begin  to  be  grate- 
ful for  them  in  prayer.  For  the  sincerely  thankful 
are  ever  blessed,  A  deep  conviction  or  firm  belief 
in  all  this  will  bring  a  degree  of  content  and  happi- 
ness over  all  our  life  which  no  pen  can  depict, 
'  since  gratitude  brings  luck.' 

In  such  a  disposition  we  can  enter  into  and 
understand  the  hidden  mind  within  us,  and  bring 
it  into  sympathy  with  our  Waking  Reason  or  Com- 
mon Sense  with  great  ease.  It  is  a  being  who  has 
been  as  a  neglected  child  since  birth,  without 
religion  or  moral  sense,  an  elf  of  caprices,  a  wild 
fairy,  but  approach  it  with  prayer  and  Will,  and 
in  time  it  will  be  a  gentle,  sensible  friend. 

Now,  there  are  myriad  and  million — many  who, 
if  they  had  read  or  heard  all  that  I  have  here 
written,  would  sincerely  say,  'But  what  is  the  prac- 
tical use  or  sense  of  it  all,  and  how  is  a  man  any 
the  better  off  for  knowing  that  his  mind  is  male 
and  female,  or  that  there  is  another  way  to  prove 
the  existence  of  God  than  that  of  dogmatic 
assertion  ?'  The  practical  use,  friend,  is  that  an 
active  mind  trained  to  thinks  even  on  such  imprac- 
tical topics  as  you  deem  these  to  be,  is  every  day 
rising  in  social  value  above  you  and  your  kind, 
and  reducing  you  to  the  ranks  with  great  rapidity. 
I  do  not  say  that  it  is  by  study  of  this  special 
subject  that  one  will  become  your  better,  but  that 
the  consideration  of  all  or  any  kind  of  human 
conditions  in  relation  to  science,  is  sure  to  result 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  GOD  133 

in  valuable  culture.  And  this  is  a  truth  by  far 
too  little  considered  of  many  books,  which  even 
if  we  disagree  with  them  still  have  to  a  great 
degree  (perhaps  more  than  better  ones)  the  gift 
of  inducing  the  reader  to  think. 

Let  him  who  would  be  happy  lead  a  blameless, 
or  rather  a  genially  and  truly  good,  life,  completely 
inspired  with  sincere  prayer,  and  let  him  who  would 
be  wise  and  brave  and  fearless  of  all  save  God, 
cultivate  his  Will  till  there  is  in  him  the  self- 
reliance  which  defies  all  that  there  is  of  earth 
earthly,  of  sin  sinful,  all  folly  and  vanity,  despair, 
irresolution,  and  timidity.  And  if  Prayer  be  as 
it  were  of  Woman,  and  Will  the  special  power  of 
Man,  let  us  not  forget  that  the  perfection  of  both 
will  be  found  in  their  being  One,  whereunto 
Prayer  and  Will,  or  Will-and-Prayer,  in  the  same 
meaning  will  inspire  both. 

It  is  a  great  gain  for  any  man  when  at  any  time 
(although  the  younger  the  better)  he  realizes  in 
fulness  the  value  of  Thought  as  a  habit  in  itself. 
To  which  many  will  reply  that  it  depends  on  what 
he  thinks  about,  which  is  all  very  well,  as  far  as  it 
goes,  but  it  is  only  a  poor  half-truth.  For  the 
great  question  is  :  ^  Is  he  a  thinker  at  all  ?^  For 
if  he  be  that,  in  very  earnestness  and  truth,  he 
will  come  right  in  the  end,  just  as  a  very  great 
and  powerful  stream  washes  itself  clean  from 
all  impurity.  No  work  is  of  any  real  value  which 
does  not  make  us  think,  though  it  be  written  in 
the  most  correct  and  elegant  manner,  while  the 


134  THE  ALTERNATE  SEX 

writing  which  awakens  us  to  action  of  any  kind, 
and,  instead  of  weakly  criticising  books  and  things, 
teaches  us  to  create,  act,  and  reflect,  is  to  be 
esteemed  above  rubies.  Yes,  though  it  be  brist- 
ling with  defects  and  typographical  errors,  and  all 
the  sins  against  the  Holy  Ghost  of  Rhetoric  (the 
detection  of  which  forms  the  capital  of  so  many 
of  the  critics  who  are  the  Detectives  of  Literature), 
it  is  to  be  prized,  for  it  achieves  that  which  ought 
to  be  regarded  as  the  chief  aim  of  life. 

And  now.  Reader,  if  this  book  of  mine  has  made 
you  think  or  reflect,  or  in  any  way  whatever  in- 
spired you  to  read  further  in  better  works,  and 
learn  more  or  act,  I  shall  have  accomplished  to 
perfection  all  that  heart  could  desire,  whether 
you  agree  with  what  is  here  advanced  or  not.  For 
it  is  not  to  '  suit  the  views  '  of  my  readers  that  I 
write,  nor  even  to  make  views,  but  to  induce  them 
to  create  views  of  their  own,  which  is  as  the 
training  of  of&cers  compared  to  the  drilling  of 
privates. 


THE  END 


BIOPHILE  CLL 
LlBRAm 


Vi^ 


